Photography Theory in Historical Perspective aims to contribute to the understanding of the multifaceted and complex character of the photographic medium by dealing with various case studies selected from photographic practices in contemporary art, discussed in the context of views and theories of photography from its inception.

Karen M. Fraser shows how photography in Japan documented key cultural and political events, war, urban life and social change. Photography and Japan contains many photographs that will be unfamiliar to a Western audience, and provides new insight into iconic images of Japan.

Examines some of history's most famous archaeological excavations, as well as lesser-known finds, from the Mediterranean, Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and the ways these sites have been represented in photographs. This title shows how the development of photography in the 19th century made archaeology available to wider audience.

Photography has been part of Irish cultural life since 1839 but little is known of its long and sometimes complex history. This book addresses the political upheavals, social transformation and geographical re-imaginings of Ireland as a colony, a nation, a province and a sovereign state.

In the struggle to cope with climate change, what lessons can be learnt from Earth's long history? Two leading geologists explain the important insights science is now able to give us about dramatic changes in Earth's distant past, and the delicate balance that ensures our planet is 'not too hot, not too cold', but 'just right' to sustain life.

This analysis of secured lending in China and Hong Kong highlights the differences between the two systems.

A study of the representation of astrology and celestial portents in the medieval and later literature of Ireland and Wales, Fiery Shapes examines the mysterious figure of the druid, who was allegedly able to read the future from rainclouds; Taliesin and Merlin; and the Welsh gentleman poet of the later Middle Ages and beyond.