Encyclopædia Britannica/Getty Images History of the World in Photographs: 1850 to the Present

XXXXX "This [book] is an authoritative, comprehensive reference book to the 150+ years of the camera era, beginning in 1850 when photography transformed how the world is recorded. The book's two major ingredients are a [1] timeline of events...and [2] pictures [or photographs]... [This] compilation...will guide anyone eager to find his or her own way into history. It is an invaluable resource for students in introductory history courses in grade school, high school, or college." The above is found at the beginning of this spellbinding, informative, big (each page is 9.5 inches by 12.5 inches), and heavy (over five pounds!) book. The timeline of events were compiled by the editors of "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (a leader in reference, education, and learning for more than two centuries) and the photographs (black & white and color) come from the "Getty Images" collection (the largest image archive if its kind in the world). This book's contents spans three centuries: (1) nineteenth (1850 to 1899) (2) twentieth (1900 to 1999) (3) twenty-first (2000 to 2007) Thus the total time period covered is 158 years. This book's table of contents divides the book into 16 decades. The first decade is (1850 to 1859) while the last "decade" is (2000 to 2007). (Not included in the table of contents is the fact that this book has an index as well as a "photo credits" section.) To orientate yourself to this book, be sure to read the "how to use this book" section first. For some unknown reason, this important page is also not included in the table of contents. Each year or transition year (example: 1850 - 1851) has a double-page LAYOUT devoted to it. Along the top and bottom of each layout is a TIMELINE (highlighted on a yellow background) that briefly describes important EVENTS for that particular year. The events deal with the following SUBJECT CATEGORIES: (I) science, medicine, and technology (II) business and commerce (III*) history and politics (IV) the arts (V) daily life and society (VI) religion, philosophy, and education. Between the top and bottom timelines are numerous captioned PHOTOGRAPHS (each photo being KEYED to an event on one of the timelines). Some of the layouts have a MINI-ESSAY (included with the photographs and highlighted on a blue background) that expands on one of the timeline events. For example, for the year 1850, the double-page layout has the following: (1) Top timeline events: 12 (4 in subject category III*) (2) Bottom timeline events: 12 (7 in subject category III*) (3) Captioned photos: 10 (4 are keyed to four events on the top timeline) (4) Mini-essay : Yes (it expands the tenth event on the top timeline) Finally, for those that want to see even more images, there is also a CD (included in an envelope secured on the inside of the book's front cover) that has nearly 20 thousand images. Direct Internet access to Getty images provides links to an additional 2 million photographs, and a link to Encyclopa

The book is very cool and the layout is visually pleasing but hard to handle because it is soft cover.

This is a marvelous history review, enhanced by excellent images from the Getty photocollection. The 19th century photographs are particularly fascinating.