This richly illustrated book is a visual, theoretical and historical resource about the photography of war, and how images are used as instruments of war.

It comprises essays and interviews by prominent theorists, artists and photographers and covers the urgent issues of the depiction of war, the use of images of war by the media, various forms of censorship, the military as a PR and image-producing machine, the circulation of unofficial images and the impact of the digital mediascape.

High-level critical texts about the image war and the reproduction of some of the most compelling images of war, offer readers a unique experience. Memory of Fire draws on content gathered for the 2008 Brighton Photo Biennial, curated by the book’s editor Julian Stallabrass, supplemented with commissioned texts and interviews.

Covering a range of twentieth-century war photography from the Russian Revolution to current wars, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, many types of images are illustrated and analysed, from large-scale museum photography and artist installations, through photojournalism and official army propaganda, through to amateur images made by soldiers.

WARNING: This book contains images of a graphic nature.