Book Review "American Cinematographers in the Great War"

We were pleased to receive a copy from our publisher John Libbey of a review by the Society for German-American Studies on our book American Cinematographers in the Great War.

Reviewer Petra DeWitt described our publication as a "fascinating yet overly detailed study of previously unknown photographers who overcame military opposition, government censorship, and the dangers of battle to record still and moving images of the war and in the process revolutionized journalism."

DeWitt continues to say that the book is of special interest because of the chapter on the publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst and his role in sending American cameramen to wartime Europe for the purpose of bringing back newsreels and images that would attract paying customers to movie theaters and subscribers to his newspapers.
   

"Must-read for journalism majors"

In the final lines the review concludes: "This study is a must-read for journalism majors and historians of photography or film. The general reader, however, may at times have difficulties following the detailed biographical information interwoven into descriptions of events and evaluations of movies. This work, nevertheless, contributes greatly to the history of propaganda during World War I."

Thank you for this review! Admittedly, our book does go into some detail, but we wanted to reconstruct this story on how the First World War was filmed by these pioneering cameramen from the United States as truthfully as possible.

The full book review can be read and downloaded here.