Mathew Brady

Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan

The horrors of the Civil War first became evident to many Americans when they saw Mathew Brady's graphic photographs of the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam. Already famous for photographing the denizens of society and famous figures like Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Clay, Brady was the first photographer to realize that the Civil War should be preserved on film. The many black and white photographs are fascinating, especially those of Abraham Lincoln, one of Brady's favorite subjects. This book should appeal to those interested in the history of photography as well as the Civil War. It focuses mainly on Brady's professional life, since not much is known of his childhood and personal life, and it includes indexes and references to the sources used.

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

I'd always assumed that Mathew Brady's photographs were photographs by Mathew Brady. Not so, George Sullivan explains in Mathew Brady: His Life and Photographs. Professional photography in the mid-1800s was largely a team effort and Brady's role was more often similar to that of a 20th-century cinematographer: He supervised the camera crew, selected the kind, size, and placement of the camera(s), its lenses and other technical details. With the Brady Studio stamp affixed to the shot, he, not the photographer received credit. Mr. Sullivan's insightful biography of the man presents both the famous daguerreotypes and photographs Brady actually took as well as others erroneously credited to him.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-This well-researched, well-written biography of the man credited with documenting the American Civil War focuses on Brady's professional life as a photographer. Although Brady is shown on the battlefield, he seldom photographed these scenes himself since his eyesight failed rapidly. Instead, as an enterprising entrepreneur, he hired others to trek to the sites and capture on film the horrors of the war. These pictures quickly dispelled the idea for the American public that battles were merely Sunday afternoon entertainment. Civil War buffs will find this excellent resource useful for information for reports as well as interesting reading about Brady and the part his photographs played in American history. A fascinating look at photography in its earliest stages, competently illustrated with black-and-white photos and reproductions of prominent figures of the time, battle scenes, and appropriate places and events in the subject's life.-Nancy E. Curran, Decatur Public Schools, IL

Merri Monks

Mathew Brady, photographer of the rich and famous of his time, is primarily remembered today for his visionary decision to create a photographic record of the Civil War. Sullivan skillfully recounts details of Brady's life and times, interweaving a history of the development of photography in the nineteenth century. Images created by Brady and his staff photographers still play important roles todaythe portraits of Lincoln on the penny and the five-dollar bill were drawn from Brady's photographs. In addition, Ken Burns relied heavily on Brady's photographs for the television series "The Civil War". Sullivan's text is notable not only for its historical relevance, but also for the analogies the author draws between events of Brady's time and events of our own; for example, he refers to the Civil War as the world's first living room war because of Brady's photographsa characteristic sometimes attributed to television coverage of Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War. Brady's ability to cope with the changes in his profession, and to use them to his advantage, is also well presented. Scattered throughout are clear reproductions of many of Brady's photographs, including portraits, as well as pictures of the Civil War. This book will find an audience among readers who like biography and is an excellent choice for Civil War curricular units.