About to Die: How News Images Move the Public

by Barbie Zelizer

Due to its ability to freeze a moment in time, the photo is a uniquely powerful device for ordering and understanding the world. But when an image depicts complex, ambiguous, or controversial events-terrorist attacks, wars, political assassinations--its ability to influence perception can prove deeply unsettling. Are we really seeing the world "as it is" or is the image a fabrication or projection? How do a photo's content and form shape a viewer's impressions? What do such images contribute to historical memory? About to Die focuses on one emotionally charged category of news photograph--depictions of individuals who are facing imminent death--as a prism for addressing such vital questions. Tracking events as wide-ranging as the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and 9/11, Barbie Zelizer demonstrates that modes of journalistic depiction and the power of the image are immense cultural forces that are still far from understood. Through a survey of a century of photojournalism, including close analysis of over sixty photos, About to Die provides a framework and vocabulary for understanding the news imagery that so profoundly shapes our view of the world.

Genres: Photography, Art, Politics, Journalism, Nonfiction, Film

432 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 2010

Reviews

[Kim Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great treatment of suspension in photographs. Zelizer makes a very clear distinction between the "as is" moment ("how it is") and the "as if" moment ("subjunctive"; "emotional, imagined, and contingent") with numerous examples. Good for visual rhetoric, memory studies, and temporality studies.

[Eion Hewson · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting and important book , has changed the way i look at the news and reporting but at times was like reading a textbook and parts of it were way over my head

[Sanni]

Erinomainen About to Die herätti kysymyksen siitä, miksi Zelizeristä ei puhuta enemmän, kun tutkitaan kärsimyksen todistamista? Zelizer käy mielenkiintoisesti läpi esimerkiksi uutiskuvissa näytetyn kuoleman kulttuurihistoriaa ja yleisön reaktioita siihen. Esimerkiksi 9/11-iskujen yhteydessä kuvista putoavista ihmisistä tuli visuaalinen tabu, mutta joitain vuosikymmeniä aiemmin kuvat putoavista ihmisistä saivat aikaan merkittäviä parannuksia paloturvallisuuteen Yhdysvalloissa. Terävässä kirjassa on huolellista analyysia.