The ultimate spectacle, a visual history of the Crimean War.

From the publishers:
 
“Chloroform, telegraphy, steamships and rifles were distinctly modern features of the Crimean War. Covered by a large corps of reporters, illustrators and cameramen, it also became the first media war in history. For the benefit of the ubiquitous artists and correspondents, both the domestic events were carefully staged, giving the Crimean War an aesthetically alluring, even spectacular character.

With their exclusive focus on written sources, historians have consistently overlooked this visual dimension of the Crimean War. Photo-historian Ulrich Keller challenges the traditional literary bias by drawing on a wealth of pictorial materials from scientific diagrams to photographs, press illustration and academic painting. The result is a new and different historical account which emphasizes the careful aesthetic scripting of the war for popular mass consumption at home”.

Ulrich Keller is Professor Emeritus of the University of Santa Barbara.
 
His research interests have ranged from Baroque art to contemporary photography. He is most interested in the relationships images have with history and ideology. His numerous awards include a Guggenheim and a Senior Mellon Fellowship. His publications include books on Equestrian monuments, August Sander, the Crimean War, and the Warsaw Ghetto, and articles on Rembrandt, Felix Nadar, Art Photography around 1900 and Walker Evans.