On Photography

“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 of “On Photography” raises 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 Photography” is to my mind the most original and illuminating study of the subject.“–Calvin Trillin, ” The New Yorker”“”

Susan Sontag was born in Manhattan in 1933 and studied at the universities of Chicago, Harvard and Oxford. Her non-fiction works include On Photography, Regarding the Pain of Others and At the Same Time. She was also the author of four novels, including The Volcano Lover and In America, as well as a collection of stories and several plays. She was awarded the Jerusalem Prize, and received the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She died in December 2004.