Andrew David Lytle produced thousands of photographic images in the sixty years during which he lived in Baton Rouge and operated Lytle Studio. His heirs, alas, reportedly shattered his glass-plate negatives by dropping them down a dry well soon after his death, not realizing their value. Andrew D. Lytle's Baton Rouge preserves some of the only images that remain, a vintage treasure for contemporary viewers.

These 120 photographs give entr?e into life in Louisiana's capital city from the 1860s through the early 1900s. They compose the largest extant collection of photos created in a professional studio in nineteenth-century Baton Rouge. Together they capture the day-to-day existence of the community, fleeting moments of great importance, and long-term changes over time, revealing not only the perceptions of the photographer but also the self-perceptions of his subjects.

In a superb introductory overview of the collection, Mark E. Martin recounts Lytle's life and career within the context of Baton Rouge history and culture, noting advances in camera and printing technologies. Martin then discusses the photographs thematically, beginning with Baton Rouge's occupation by Federal forces during the Civil War. Thousands of northern soldiers and sailors came through the city during that time, and Lytle, a native of Ohio, photographed them in his studio, on the riverfront, in camps, on boats and ships, and from a bird's-eye view atop buildings. This work brought Lytle fame fifty years later when select images were published in The Photographic History of the Civil War along with the claim that Lytle had been a secret agent, a "camera spy," for the Confederacy. Martin exposes the impossibility of this popular belief, which nonetheless persisted well into the twentieth century.

Over the years Lytle Studio, which Andrew's son Howard eventually joined, produced commercial images of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the forestry industry, railways and waterways, LSU sports teams, outdoor landscapes, and individuals. Andrew Lytle was more than a studio photographer, though. A husband, father, and grandfather, he took an active role in the community as an entrepreneur; volunteer firefighter, 'member of religious, social, and fraternal organizations; and participant in local theatrical productions and other entertainments. His photography provides in many cases the only visual record of the life and times of Baton Rouge and its people in that period.

Much of what is depicted in Andrew D. Lytle's Baton Rouge remains central to the city's vitality today: politics, family, home, commerce and industry, social events, parades, LSU sports, and the riverfront (now with levees). Readers will find here a priceless glimpse at a bygone world, yet one still recognizable.

Join Sunday Times bestselling author, award-winning explorer and photographer Levison Wood on his extraordinary journeys around the world - vividly revealed in his first photography book. 'A compelling visual record of a career spent at the extremes.' Sunday Telegraph 'Levison Wood's new book is all the travelling you need to do this year... Bringing together 140 of his most striking photos, selected from over a decade on the road, it offers a stunning portrait of the vastly different places, people and lives the world contains - and which most of us will never see.' Gentleman's Journal From images documenting his time in war zones to encounters with communities who have returned to traditional ways of life in the face of ecological disasters, Wood's photographs offer a unique insight into the resilience and resourcefulness of those living in some of the least accessible places on the planet. Chapters include Frontiers, Wood's intrepid ventures to remote environments; Conflict, covering not only the front-line battles but also the long-term devastation of war; Heritage, documenting his observations on ancient practices co-existing with modern technology; and Community, his record of the universal importance of family roots, cultural identities and community ties. With his unique experiences in extraordinary locations and his eye for compelling compositions, Wood has created a powerful collection of images that celebrates humanity in all its variety.

Arriving in Iraq on the eve of the U.S. invasion, unaffiliated with any newspaper and hoping to pick up assignments along the way, Ashley Gilbertson was one of the first photojournalists to cover the disintegration of America's military triumph as looting and score-settling convulsed Iraqi cities. Just twenty-five years old at the time, Gilbertson soon landed a contract with the "New York Times", and his extraordinary images of life in occupied Iraq and of American troops in action began appearing in the paper regularly. Throughout his work, Gilbertson took great risks to document the risks taken by others, whether dodging sniper fire with American infantry, photographing an Iraqi bomb squad as they defused IEDs, or following marines into the cauldron of urban combat. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" gathers the best of Gilbertson's photographs, chronicling America's early battles in Iraq, the initial occupation of Baghdad, the insurgency that erupted shortly afterward, the dramatic battle to overtake Falluja, and the country's first national elections. No Western photojournalist has done as much sustianed work in occupied Iraq as Gilbertson, and this wide-ranging treatment of the war from the viewpoint of a photographer is the first of its kind. Accompanying each section of the book is a personal account of Gilbertson's experiences covering the conflict. Throughout, he conveys the exhilaration and terror of photographing war, as well as the challenges of photojournalism in our age of embedded reporting. But ultimately, and just as importantly, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" tells the story of Gilbertson's own journey from hard-drinking bravado to the grave realism of a scarred survivor. Here he struggles with guilt over the death of a marine escort, tells candidly of his own experience with post-traumatic stress disorder, and grapples with the reality that Iraq - despite the sacrifice in Iraqi and American lives - has descended into a civil war with no end in sight. A searing account of the American experience in Iraq, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" is sure to become one of the classic war photography books of our time.

Young people around the world have been following the example of Greta Thunberg and demonstrating for climate protection as part of 'Fridays for Future'. Week after week since 2018, they have called emphatically for political ramifications in order to finally stop the dangerous effects of global climate change. The photographer Andrea Baumgartl (*1965) has accompanied these demonstrations from the very beginning. At close proximity and with great empathy, she shows the determination with which young people are fighting self-confidently for their future. Her new book is a highly topical, moving, and rousing contemporary document. Text in English and German.