Author Scott Hippensteel examines various Civil War photographs and photographers, employing metrics to determine which photographs have become the most iconic and which photographs are authentic. Along the way he asks questions about whether or not we should view these photographers as the first photojournalists or these famous photos as historic works of art . . . or both. Hippensteel concludes the book with multiple investigations into a few controversial photographs, applying a critical analysis to both the photographs and the photographic process at that time, and an argument for the legacies of Matthew Brady, Andrew Gardner, and others who placed themselves on the battlefield alongside soldiers and officers on both sides.
Scott Hippensteel is a professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographic Sciences. He has published three other books on the American Civil War: Rocks and Rifles: The Influence of Geology on the Combat and Tactics of the American Civil War, Myths of the Civil War: The Fact, Fiction, and Science behind the Civil Wars Most-Told Stories, and Sand, Science, and the Civil War: Sedimentary Geology and Combat, which was named a top ten book of 2023 by Civil War Books and Authors.
