Books by Dora Apel

Why do we look at lynching photographs? What is the basis for our curiosity, rage, indignation, or revulsion? This book examines lynching photographs as a way of analyzing photography's historical role in promoting and resisting racial violence. It charts the history of lynching photographs - their meanings, uses, and controversial display.

Analysing over one hundred representations of lynching, Dora Apel shows how the visual documentation of such crimes can be a central vehicle for the construction and reinforcement of racial hierarchies. Lynching was often orchestrated explicitly for the camera, and photographs were used to construct ideologies of """"whiteness"""" and """"blackness.