Women War Photographers: From Lee Miller to Anja Niedringhaus

This beautiful and moving anthology celebrates the legacy of the world’s wartime camerawomen. Based on an exhibition at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, Germany, Beckman and Korn, both historians and curators, trace the careers of eight photographers, beginning with Gerda Taro, a trailblazing German photographer who died on the front lines of the Spanish Civil War at age 26. German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus—an advocate for equality in the industry—wrote to her editor every day for six weeks to secure an assignment to cover the Bosnian War in 1992. The techniques used by the photographers mirrored the progression of contemporary art, the authors note, particularly with American Lee Miller’s surreal use of light in her photos of landing craft on Normandy Beach in 1944. French-born Christine Spengler focused on contrasting joy and dread, as with an image of Cambodian kids using shell casings as flotation devices while swimming in 1974. American photographer Susan Meiselas created a series of riveting images of masked Nicaraguan youth during that country’s 1978 insurrection. History buffs and photography connoisseurs will find this especially riveting, and the powerful images should resonate with any reader. (Sept.)