Great Photographs of the Civil War brings together in one volume the most evocative Civil War photographs ever published. The images--selected by Time Life editors from thousands of photographs preserved in museums and collections around the country--tell the epic story of a nation divided. Reflected here are the tireless efforts of pioneering photographers who used heavy equipment and portable darkrooms mounted on wagon beds to record this fateful struggle. The editors have assembled 300 gripping images, some of them recognized classics and others rarely seen, into 20 chronological photo essays. Here, the crucial events of the war, from the bloodiest day at Antietam and the Confederate high tide at Gettysburg to the battles for Atlanta and the climactic siege of Petersburg, are conveyed with power and precision in the defining photographs of the conflict that redefined our nation.

Published to coincide with the 150th anniverary of the battle of Gettysburg, features both familiar and rarely seen Civil War images from such photographers as George Barnard, Mathew Brady, and Timothy O'Sullivan.

Gathers photos of arsenals, barracks, stables, railroad depots, prisons, forts, pontoon bridges, blockhouses, and Alexandria, Richmond, and Washington.

This set of essays by twenty-seven historians of the Civil War describes a wide array of the war's photographs, examining them in unfamiliar ways.

The name TIME-LIFE has become synonymous with providing readers with a deeper understanding of subjects and world events that matter to us all. Now, with the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War upon us, TIME-LIFE The Civil War in 500 Photographs will be an indispensable guide to a nation-changing era and the military, social, economic, and political forces that shaped it. The narrative of the Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865, is familiarly to almost all Americans, from Presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln's noble declaration that "the government cannot endure permanently half-slave, half-free" to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Yet the details of the battles and battlefields, the political maneuverings, and the personalities who defined the war continue to fascinate citizens of all ages. TIME-LIFE The Civil War in 500 Photographs taps into that into that interest, providing a fresh and accessible way to appreciate this most important conflict. It will lay out the war's major developments in arresting, colorized images and cover topics from the backstory through secession, the Union's early setbacks, the Underground Railroad, victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and Reconstruction. For history buffs and the newly curious, The Civil War in 500 Photographs will be the ultimate, easy-to-use guide to four years that changed our nation forever.

Smithsonian Civil War is a lavishly illustrated coffee-table book featuring 150 entries in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. From among tens of thousands of Civil War objects in the Smithsonian's collections, curators handpicked 550 items and wrote a unique narrative that begins before the war through the Reconstruction period. The perfect gift book for fathers and history lovers, Smithsonian Civil War combines one-of-a-kind, famous, and previously unseen relics from the war in a truly unique narrative. Smithsonian Civil War takes the reader inside the great collection of Americana housed at twelve national museums and archives and brings historical gems to light. From the National Portrait Gallery come rare early photographs of Stonewall Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant; from the National Museum of American History, secret messages that remained hidden inside Lincoln's gold watch for nearly 150 years; from the National Air and Space Museum, futuristic Civil War-era aircraft designs. Thousands of items were evaluated before those of greatest value and significance were selected for inclusion here. Artfully arranged in 150 entries, they offer a unique, panoramic view of the Civil War.

Photography became a dominant medium in cultural life starting in the late nineteenth century. As it happened, viewers increasingly used their reactions to photographs to comment on and debate public issues as vital as war, national identity, and citizenship. Cara A. Finnegan analyzes a wealth of newspaper and magazine articles, letters to the editor, trial testimony, books, and speeches produced by viewers in response to specific photos they encountered in public. From the portrait of a young Lincoln to images of child laborers and Depression-era hardship, Finnegan treats the photograph as a locus for viewer engagement and constructs a history of photography's viewers that shows how Americans used words about images to participate in the politics of their day. As she shows, encounters with photography helped viewers negotiate the emergent anxieties and crises of U.S. public life through not only persuasion but action, as well.

In 1861, the art of photography came of age just as Civil War erupted and tore the United States apart. As a result, more than 2,000 photographers covered the conflict, making it the first historical event captured fully by the camera. Noted historian William C. Davis has chosen the finest of these images, enhancing the pictures with illuminating text that places them in context. Many of these evocative photos are rarely seen, and portray not only the battles and their tragic aftermath, but also the people caught in the devastation. "

Alexander Gardner's photographs are among the most memorable images of the Civil War, and they fill this powerful biography, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in History. "This album of Gardner's work is nothing less than sensational " -- "Booklist"