The Photography Reader is a comprehensive collection of twentieth-century writings on photography- its production, its uses and effects. Encompassing essays by photographers including Edward Weston and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and key thinkers from Walter Benjamin to Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag, the reader traces the development of ideas about photography, exploring issues such as identity, consumption, the gaze, and digital technology. Each themed section features an editor's introduction setting ideas and debates in their historical and theoretical context.