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The Cruel Radiance Susie Linfield

The Cruel Radiance By Susie Linfield

The Cruel Radiance by Susie Linfield


£14,90
Condition - Very Good
Out of stock

Summary

Challenges the idea that photographs of political violence exploit their subjects and pander to the voyeuristic tendencies of their viewers. Instead, the author argues that looking at such images is an ethically and politically necessary act that connects us to our modern history of violence and probes the human capacity for cruelty.

The Cruel Radiance Summary

The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence by Susie Linfield

In The Cruel Radiance, Susie Linfield challenges the idea that photographs of political violence exploit their subjects and pander to the voyeuristic tendencies of their viewers. Instead she argues passionately that looking at such images - and learning to see the people in them - is an ethically and politically necessary act that connects us to our modern history of violence and probes the human capacity for cruelty. Grappling with critics from Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht to Susan Sontag and the postmoderns - and analyzing photographs from such events as the Holocaust, China's Cultural Revolution, and recent terrorist acts - Linfield explores the complex connection between photojournalism and the rise of human rights ideals. In the book's concluding section, she examines the indispensable work of Robert Capa, James Nachtwey, and Gilles Peress and asks how photography should respond to the increasingly nihilistic trajectory of modern warfare. A bracing and unsettling book, The Cruel Radiance convincingly demonstrates that if we hope to alleviate political violence, we must first truly understand it - and to do that, we must begin to look.

The Cruel Radiance Reviews

The Cruel Radiance is a beautifully considered and unabashedly impassioned plea for the continuing moral relevance of photojournalism. (Jed Perl, New Republic)

About Susie Linfield

Susie Linfield has been an editor for American Film, the Village Voice, and the Washington Post and has written for a wide range of publications, including the Los Angeles Times Book Review, New York Times, Bookforum, Village Voice, and the Nation. She is associate professor of journalism at New York University, where she directs the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program.

Additional information

GOR008250872
9780226482514
0226482510
The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence by Susie Linfield
Used - Very Good
Paperback
The University of Chicago Press
20120415
344
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Cruel Radiance