This book is a unique example of photographic detective work in which the famous battle is re-created almost as if it were a contemporary news event. The reader is transported to the battlefield by the photographs and through the analysis of the photographs to the battle itself. We watch it unfold, action by action. In meticulous close-up fashion, with documentary force, we see the terrible encounters of men at war. - Publisher.

The Gettysburg photographs : a new approach -- The problems of documentation -- Gardner and his men -- Mathew Brady -- The Tyson brothers -- Additional photographers -- The Battle of Gettysburg -- The presentation -- Group I : the first day's field -- Group II : Cemetery Hill -- Group III : Culp's Hill -- Group IV : Little Round Top and Devils Den -- Group VI : The Rose Farm -- The early photographs : a plea for reappraisal.