From Library Journal
Unlike previous conflicts, when periodicals used artist sketches, the Civil War was the first major armed conflict to be illustrated with photographs. At the outset of the war in July 1861, Mathew Brady (1823-96), who was operating a photography studio in New York, set out to photograph the Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, VA. Brady went on to become the leading war photographer, amassing, with his assistants, some 6000 photographs. Lecturer and historian Garrison (The Amazing Civil War) has selected more than 300 of these images to be reproduced as vivid, large-size images for his book. The subject matter is diverse: portraits of political leaders and military commanders; and scenes of soldiers and carnage on the battlefield, care of the sick and wounded, and behind-the-lines home life. The emphasis is almost wholly on the Union side. This book will appeal to Civil War buffs. Recommended for academic libraries.DHarry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
When Matthew Brady accompanied the Union army to Bull Run in July 1861, that first major Civil War battle also launched the remarkable career of Brady, who took the relatively new medium of photography to a higher level of terrible artistry during the next four years of slaughter. Garrison, a former college president and a Civil War scholar, has compiled more than 300 of the photographs taken by Brady and his assistants. Many of them, particularly the portraits of icons such as Lincoln and Grant, will be familiar even to laypeople. Others, including some stunning battlefield shots, have rarely been seen, and their impact can be shattering. The supporting text is informative and also captures both the irony and the sadness of Brady's personal life. This compilation should become an essential element in a Civil War collection. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Vivid, large-size images...This book will appeal to Civil War buffs." --Library Journal



Review
"Vivid, large-size images...This book will appeal to Civil War buffs." --Library Journal



Book Description
An essential element in any Civil War collection, more than 300 stunning Civil War photographs by the famed Mathew Brady appear with informative supporting text.



Card catalog description
A pictorial history of the Civil War, using photographs taken by Mathew Brady and his assistants.


From the Back Cover
When, late in 1862, Mathew B. Brady posted a notice on the door of his New York studio reading, "The Dead of Antietam," it caused a sensation. It proclaimed an exhibition of photographs taken by him and his assistants of the aftermath of the bloodiest day in American history. It was the first time that most people witnessed the carnage of the American Civil War, bringing home to them the terrible reality and earnestness of the conflict. In fact, the Civil War was the first to be covered in detail in photographs, and literally thousands of them were taken by Brady and his operatives operating out of New York and Washington, D.C. Before the war, photography itself was still in its infancy, but Brady forged a name for himself as a portrait photographer, choosing as his subjects the country''s civilian and military leaders, and foreign dignitaries, and chronicling the nation''s history as painters had done before him. As war loomed, Brady planned to document the war on a grand scale and organized a corps of photographers to follow the troops in the field. Spurning the advice of friends who warned him of the battlefield dangers and financial risks, Brady proved with his war scenes that photographs could be more that posed portraits. He established the craft as an art form, such that photographs credited to his studios have inspired countless photographers ever since. Brady Studio teams carried their cameras and darkroom equipment in horse-drawn carts around the camps and the battlefields, recording for posterity the commanders and troopers, the weapons, the pageantry, the triumphs and the suffering of the sick and the wounded, and sadly the death and sheer destruction in the cities and cornfields during the war that pit American against American. For Brady himself, the war proved a financial disaster, and even the sale of his archive some years later could not save him from bankruptcy. In his final years, he said, "No one will ever know what I went through to secure those negatives." He died in 1896, penniless and largely unappreciated. It was not until decades later that his skill and artistry with the camera were acknowledged. Fortunately, many of his images survive, and Brady''s Civil War presents a selected collection of them, highlighting their immense creativity and informative value for military enthusiasts as well as readers interested in the art of photography. The text, by Webb Garrison, a successful author on the wide subject of the Civil War, is in the form of incisive and explanatory captions, describing how the camera was taken to the battlefield to create the world''s first comprehensive photo-documentation of war.



About the Author
WEBB GARRISON is a former university dean and college president who has spent a lifetime collecting and chronicling Civil War imagery and documentation. He has written more than 1,000 articles for magazines, and over 65 books--of which the most popular are on the Civil War; their cumulative sales are approaching one million copies. He is a frequent speaker on this subject for radio talk shows and national TV programs.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Matthew Brady was America's foremost Civil War photographer. He learned the basics from none other than Samuel Morse, and set up his own daguerreotype studio in New York in 1844. Little known about Brady: His fading eyesight during the war meant that his assistants were responsible for many of the photos credited to him. Brady's Civil War presents more than 300 of these classic photos, while also clearing up the questions and myths concerning their origin.

ANNOTATION

A pictorial history of the Civil War, using photographs taken by Mathew Brady and his assistants.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the Civil War era, Matthew Brady and his staff became the country's foremost photographers of battle scenes and military life, traveling widely throughout the warring states with their cameras. Brady, who learned the rudiments of photography from Samuel Morse (the inventor of Morse code), had established his own daguerreotype studio in New York in 1844.

By the time of the war, however, Brady was suffering from extremely poor eyesight, so many of the photographs credited to him were in fact taken by his staff. Nonetheless, he amassed a priceless archive of images of the war-some six thousand of them-with subjects as diverse as politicians, military leaders, and soldiers in the field, as well as devastating scenes of carnage and destruction taken shortly after the battles, and portraits of home life during the war.

Brady's Civil War is, in many ways, the complete realization of Brady's dream of bringing his photographs to the world at large: It not only offers more than three hundred stunning Civil War photographs but also sets the record straight as to the authorship of the photographs, finally dispelling the questions and myths that have shrouded his legacy for more than a century. (10 1/4 x 11, 272 pages, b&w photos)

Webb Garrison is a former university dean and college president who has spent a lifetime collecting and chronicling Civil War imagery and documentation. He has written more than a thousand articles for magazines, and over sixty-five books-of which the most popular are on the Civil War; their cumulative sales are approaching one million copies. He is a frequent speaker on this subject for radio talk shows and national TV programs. He lives in North Carolina.

SYNOPSIS

This is one book that no Civil War buff should be without. It has 270 historical and fascinating photographs.

In the Civil War era, Matthew Brady and his staff became the country's foremost photographers of battle scenes and military life, traveling widely throughout the warring states with their cameras. Brady, who learned the rudiments of photography from Samuel Morse (the inventor of Morse code), had established his own daguerreotype studio in New York in 1844.

By the time of the war, however, Brady was suffering from extremely poor eyesight, so many of the photographs credited to him from this time were in fact taken by his staff. Nonetheless, he amassed a priceless archive of images of the war--some 6,000 of them--with subjects as diverse as politicians, military leaders, and soldiers in the field, as well as devastating scenes of carnage and destruction taken shortly after the battles, and portraits of home life during the war.

Brady's Civil War is, in many ways, the complete realization of Brady's dream of bringing his photographs to the world at large, as it not only offers 270 stunning Civil War photographs but also sets the record straight as to the authorship of the photographs, finally dispelling the questions and myths that have shrouded his legacy for more than a century.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal