The Savage view Book

Methodologically important for making the distinction between seeing photos both through and in history. For example, any given photo can be situated within its historical moment, with respect to that particular "period eye," but also the meaning of any given photo changes through time, making them very historically dynamic. Sandweiss' narrative carefully pulls apart the ways that photos of the west fed into a dominant narrative about the necessity for westward expansion into an area without a human history, and shows how modern historians who ignore the constructedness of this narrative (such as Ken Burns, which she discusses in the epilogue) feed into the presumptions such photos helped stabilize. I think Sandweiss strikes an excellent balance between acknowledging how a historian's interests are framed by the present and bringing to light historical evidence that challenges, complicates, and reveals the roots of dominant narratives about the west. In my book, that's one of the major goals of most good history. However, the first four chapters are redundant and boring unless you are really, really interested in daguerreotypes. I would recommend skimming them, and getting into the meat of the book which starts at chapter 5.