On Photography [Paperback]

Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Criticism.

One of the most highly regarded books of its kind,On Photographyfirst appeared in 1977 and is described by its author as a progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs. It begins with the famous In Plato's Cave essay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating and far-reaching Brief Anthology of Quotations.

A brilliant analysis of the profound changes photographic images have made in our way of looking at the world and at ourselves over the last 140 years. Washington Post Book World

Every page ofOn Photographyraises important and exciting questions about its subject and raises them in the best way. The New York Times Book Review

A book of great importance and originality . . . All future discussion or analysis of the role of photography in the affluent mass-media societies are now bound to begin with her book. John Berger

Not many photographs are worth a thousand of [Susan Sontag's] words. Robert Hughes, Time

After Sontag, photography must be written about not only as a force in the arts, but as one that is increasingly powerful in the nature and destiny of our global society. Newsweek

On Photographyis to my mind the most original and illuminating study of the subject. Calvin Trillin, The New Yorker

Susan Sontagis the author of four novels,The Benefactor, Death Kit,The Volcano LoverandIn America; I, Etcetera, a collection of stories; several plays; and five works of nonfiction, among themIllness as aMetaphorandAIDS and Its Metaphors. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work.