Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence

Description

Evaluates the place of images among other kinds of historical evidence. By reviewing the many varieties of images by region, period and medium, and looking at the pragmatic uses of images (e.g. the Bayeux Tapestry, and engraving of a printing press, a reconstruction of a building), Peter Burke sheds light on our assumption that these practical uses are 'reflections' of specific historical meanings and influences.

Peter Burke is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Cambridge. His recent books include The European Renaissance: Centres and Peripheries (1998) and A Social History of Knowledge from Gutenberg to Diderot (2000).

Provides us with a compendium ... which continues the long process of restoring the balance between written documentation and optical representation as carriers of historical information ... a thoroughly engrossing explication of how fine art, graphics, photographs, film and other media can be used to make sense of lives lived out in other times Tate Magazine Well-informed and fair-minded, and it prompts one to ponder -- Michael Baxandall English Historical Review