‘This outstanding collection of essays sheds new light on photography’s beguilingly complex relationship to the real. In chapters addressing a wide range of topics, from war photography to conceptual art, the authors tease out threads of doubt, paradox, and enigma that run through the history of the medium. One thing is clear: this is a major new contribution to the field.’Mia Fineman, Associate Curator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA‘Essays in this exciting collection embrace the uncertainties, ambivalences and contradictions that pulse through photography as a medium. Working fearlessly in photography’s grey zone – between construction and referentiality -- contributors offer historically-grounded insights into a range of genres: from war, through spirit, to fine art photography. The only doubt that the volume dispels is that doubt as a category that has hovered over the medium from its inception opens up a productive and original heuristic for future study.’Andrea Noble, Professor of Latin American Studies, University of Durham, UK