US History in 15 Photographs: 1865 to the 21st century

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Photographs are more than just illustrations of a moment in time, they offer a powerful way to interpret and understand the past like no other historical source can. U.S. History in 15 Photographs introduces this power through 15 iconic and lesser-known photographs representing key eras in American History. Taking the reader from Reconstruction and Westward Expansion, to the Roaring Twenties and the World Wars, right up to Modern American Culture, it offers a refreshing, visual account of American history.

This volume reorients photography as a major source for understanding the past, expanding not only the stories that we tell, but the way we tell them. Teaching students how to understand, contextualize, and interpret historic photography, U.S. History in 15 Photographs centers diverse stories about the American experience by exploring topics around race, class, gender, disability, the environment, and social justice.

The scholars who contributed to this volume show that photographs are more just illustrations from the past, but foundational sources with surprising revelations about the past.

Author Bio

Rebecca S. Wingo is Director of Public History and Assistant Professor of History at University of Cincinnati, USA. A settler scholar of the Indigenous and American Wests, her work examines the use of photography as a tool of settler colonialism.

Lauren Tilton is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at University of Richmond, USA, where she also directs the Distant Viewing Lab. Her research focuses on analyzing, developing, and applying digital and computational methods to the study of 20th and 21st century documentary expression and visual culture.