Brady's Civil War: Revised Edition

Brady's Civil War: Revised Edition

In 1861, Mathew Brady was a well-known portrait photographer to the rich and famous. But he couldn’t resist the call of war, and launched a project to document on a grand scale the coming conflict between American North and South.

The photographic technology of the day was cumbersome—a “wet plate” process that used poisonous and flammable (even explosive) chemicals to capture images on fragile glass—and taking it on the road required portable darkrooms as well. Yet Brady and his colleagues overcame these obstacles to produce thousands of the most memorable wartime images ever recorded, and more than 270 of them are reproduced in Brady’s Civil War.

The long exposure time required to produce these photos meant there could be no action shots. Instead we see the war through posed portraits of those who fought it; in images of army camps and hospitals; and in images of battlefields, solemn still-life landscapes strewn with bodies in the aftermath of bloodshed.

Brady paid a high price for his great achievement and died broke. But Brady’s Civil War shows that he left behind a remarkable historical record that is also one of photography’s most important and timeless bodies of work.

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publisher: Globe Pequot Press ( May 01, 2008 )

Item #: 67-7381

ISBN: 159921315X

Product Dimensions: 10.0 x 11.25 x 3.488 inches

Product Weight: 56.0 ounces