Shooting War: Photography and the American Experience of Combat (Hardcover)

by Susan D. Moeller (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
YA-- Moeller links photography with the American experience of combat from the Spanish American War in Cuba through the Vietnam War. This book will be valuable for students of photography because it not only provides the personal experiences of such famous photographers as Margaret Bourke-White and David Douglas Duncan, but it also gives specific details of some of the most famous pictures of each war. Moeller deals with problems of government censorship that the photographers encountered as well as the extremely dangerous situations they were in as they worked. The book also provides a discussion of the historical contexts of the photos. --Jane Golenko, Pasadena High School, TX
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Photojournalist and historian Moeller has written an exhaustive study of combat photographers and their images from the Spanish-American War to Vietnam. She provides the historical context, relates the experiences and thoughts of photographers at the front line, and analyzes the pictures that were published--discussing along the way military and media censorship of war photography. Her thesis, that combat photography reflected and affected the American perception of each war and of war itself, is strongly supported by clear prose, 40 black-and-white photos, and numerous first-hand accounts by photojournalists. Impressively researched, this is a major contribution to photographic history as well as American history and culture collections.
- Ann Copeland, Drew Univ. Lib., Madison, N.J.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (February 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465077773
• ISBN-13: 978-0465077779
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #938,306 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Importance of the 1st amendment, January 4, 2004

By	Stanley Leary (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

"This is the most important book on combat photographers and what they have seen and felt and photographed that has yet been written. Miss Moeller has exhaustively studied combat photographers and their pictures from the Spanish-American War through Vietnam. With the sensitivity and involvement of a photographer, and the insights and persistence of a historian, when has made Shooting War a landmark book that is not only about the photographers who have covered the wars but also one of the strongest and most perceptive books yet about war itself."-Carl Mydans, staff photographer, Time, and one of the five original staff photographers for Life, 1936.

Until reading this book I didn't realize the power journalism truly has on our rights and liberties as Americans. This book shows how our US government controlled American's view of war. Frankly it shows how we have been manipulated through time to go where those in government want to lead us. When you finish reading this book you realize how vitally important the first amendment is to the survival of a true democracy.