No Caption Needed
Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy
In No Caption Needed, Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites provide the definitive study of the iconic photograph as a dynamic form of public art. Their critical analyses of nine individual icons explore the photographs themselves and their subsequent circulation through an astonishing array of media, including stamps, posters, billboards, editorial cartoons, TV shows, Web pages, tattoos, and more. Iconic images are revealed as models of visual eloquence, signposts for collective memory, means of persuasion across the political spectrum, and a crucial resource for critical reflection.
Arguing against the conventional belief that visual images short-circuit rational deliberation and radical critique, Hariman and Lucaites make a bold case for the value of visual imagery in a liberal-democratic society. No Caption Needed is a compelling demonstration of photojournalism’s vital contribution to public life.
national Communication Association: Diamond Anniversary Book Award
Won
Kappa Tau Alpha: Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award
Won
Media Ecology Association: Susanne K. Langer Award
Won
“This authoritative, thought-provoking book analyzes the genesis and reception of key American images from Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' to pictures of the Challenger disaster and 9/11. Drawing extensively on the recent scholarly literature, it demonstrates the pivotal position of the still photograph in modern visual culture. It will be essential reading for students of 20th-century photojournalism, propaganda and mass media. Highly recommended.”
“A penetrating and provocative analysis. . . . The authors’ analytical achievement is enabled by an extraordinary feat of research and reporting.”--James Rosen, The American Interest
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
1
INTRODUCTION
2
PUBLIC CULTURE, ICONS, AND ICONOCLASTS
3
THE BORDERS OF THE GENRE
Migrant Mother and the Times Square Kiss
4
PERFORMING CIVIC IDENTITY
Flag Raisings at Iwo Jima and Ground Zero
5
DISSENT AND EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT
Kent State
6
TRAUMA AND PUBLIC MEMORY
Accidental Napalm
7
LIBERAL REPRESENTATION AND GLOBAL ORDER
Tiananmen Square
8
RITUALIZING MODERNITY’S GAMBLE
The Hindenburg and Challenger Explosions
9
CONCLUSION
Visual Democracy
NOTES
INDEX
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