''The most original and illuminating study of the subject'' New Yorker

Photographs are everywhere. From high art to family albums to legal evidence, they capture and document the world around us. And whether we use them to expose, reveal or remember, they hold an enduring power.

In this essential and revelatory volume, Susan Sontag confronts important questions surrounding the power dynamics between photographer and subject, the blurred boundary between lived events and recreated images, and the desires that lead us to record our lives.

''Complex and contradictory... one of America''s greatest public intellectuals'' Observer

''Susan Sontag offers enough food for thought to satisfy the most intellectual of appetites'' The Times

''A brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have had in our way of looking at the world, and at ourselves, over the years'' Washington Post