Mathew Brady Records the Civil War

November 1, 2017

Gr 6 Up-The stories of those involved in some of the most prominent photographs in U.S. history. Edward S. Curtis spent his career perpetuating stereotypes when he depicted Native Americans, Matthew Brady recorded the Civil War, astronauts took pictures from space, and Ellis Island workers photographed immigrants. The histories are matter-of-fact and comprehensive, and the featured photographers are realistically portrayed. Brady suffered money problems, and Williams was not even the photographer at Ellis Island but its controversial director. NASA Takes Photography into Space differs from the others in that the focus is on technological challenges. While the topics are intriguing, the narrative is dull and much of the content is available elsewhere. The pictures are reproduced well, but there are too few. VERDICT Uninteresting narratives makes these a secondary purchase at best.

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