The lives of the great photographers are just as fascinating and full of implications as the images they have left us, many of which are now part of our cultural landscape; yet of the stories behind the lens, made up of economic hardship, personal tragedies, successes and defeats, we often know very little. This book recounts with burning speed and in an engaging way the life experiences of thirty-eight of the most important and influential figures in the entire history of photography, from Ansel Adams to Madame Yevonde. Examining the biography and training of these artists, with their singular and complex twists, as well as the social, cultural and political crucible in which their visions of the world took shape, Juliet Hacking sheds new light on their work, guiding the reader through the innovations, movements and developments of the whole history of photography. Among the photographers covered: Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Eugène Atget, Richard Avedon, Margaret Bourke-White, Bill Brandt, Brassaï, Julia Margaret Cameron, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, André Kertész, Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, László Moholy-Nagy, Eadweard Muybridge, Nadar, Irving Penn, August Sander, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston.