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McKinley's timely book weaponizes two unlikely and often assumed neutral partners--the camera and the sewing machine--to decipher one hundred years of photographic history and representation of African women (1870-1970). This brilliant book is an important contribution to the predominantly Eurocentric history of photography as it explores how identity and empowerment are constructed in front of the camera. Referring to cloth as a second skin, and including photographs that both cover and uncover women's bodies, McKinley reveals how women reclaim their selfhood, breaking down narratives of colonialism despite the fact that women were disproportionately used as subjects to ultimately reveal how the camera and clothing became tools of resistance and invention. Drawn from the author's expansive (geographically and conceptually) personal photo archive (https://themckinleycollection.com/), these 150 photographs demonstrate how the camera and the sewing machine became tools of both freedom of expression and colonialism and ownership, while dismantling Western stereotypes of African women, image by image.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

For this volume Campany (writer, curator, and managing director of programs at the International Center of Photography) selected an eclectic suite of 120 photographs, breaking boundaries of chronology, photographic materiality, and genre to explore questions of photographic meaning as much as writing about the photographs themselves. Campany states that his inspiration was Susan Sontag's On Photography (1977), though the book is perhaps more reminiscent of John Szarkowski's Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art (1973). Both are singular examinations of individual photographs, where authorship and photographer's intent buckle under the writer's own peculiar interpretations and interests. Untethered from linear history or photographic canon, Campany delights in the pleasures of the medium and posits thought-provoking insights into each photograph. Little-known works collide with well-known photographs by Robert Frank, Susan Meiselas, Walker Evans, August Sanders, Rineke Dijkstra, and Eugene Atget, among others, emphasizing how malleable and fractious photographs can be. This beautifully designed and concise volume is a great introduction to photography, not by subject or photographic artist, but rather through Campany's eyes and by his curiosity, which revolves around the many facets and myriad ways photographs function.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Evans (1903-75) is one of the most celebrated and written about photographers of the 20th century, so it might seem that another book on him is unnecessary. In fact Alpers's book is a welcome addition to the literature. The book is finely tuned and thoroughly researched, carving out a unique space by focusing on Evans's lifelong emphasis on the art of seeing. Often using direct quotes, Alpers (emer., Univ. of California, Berkeley) provides fresh insights into Evans's photographs and creative process, including intimate details on how he viewed his subjects, photographs, and what the eye, in tandem with the camera, can achieve. Highlighting groundbreaking cultural events, artists, and historical moments, including both world wars, the 1960s, and multiple cultural renaissances throughout Europe and the US, Alpers energetically writes about the people, places, and events that were continuous sources of influence and inspiration for Evans. In an unusual design choice, the first 143 pages are dedicated solely to Evans's black-and-white photographs and ten color images--all beautifully printed--accompanied by little text; the second half of the book comprises the title page, table of contents, introduction, chapters, chapter notes, and acknowledgements.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.