Description
Book SynopsisExplores antique photographs of people and their dogs to expand the understanding of visual studies, animal studies, and American culture. Uses the canine body as a lens to investigate the cultural significance of family and childhood portraits, pictures of hunters, and racially charged images.
Trade Review“This is a lovely collection of vernacular 19th- and 20th-century images of dogs and their owners.”
—Rebecca Onion Slate
“Ann-Janine Morey's book is a treasure trove of photographs created by ordinary people. Together these document what Morey calls the ‘romance’ of dogs and humans—a story of love, domination, primitivism, and ‘Edenic longings’—embodied in the presence of the dog among humans.”
—Teresa Mangum,University of Iowa
Table of ContentsContents
Preface: Some Words About the Pictures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Romancing the Dog
1 The Visual Rhetoric of Everyday People
2 The Dog on the Table: From The Great Gatsby to the Great White Middle Class
3 The Gaze Outside the Frame
4 Family Portraits
5 Hunting Pictures and Dog Stories
6 Women Cross the Line
Conclusion: The Dog in the Picture
Notes
Bibliography
Index
