For at least the last 150 years, photography has been fundamental in defining and shaping our understanding of key moments in our global history. 

A dramatic photo of Pope Francis walking alone through a completely empty, rain-slicked St. Peter's Square during the 2020 pandemic.
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN – APRIL 10: Pope Francis attends the Stations of the Cross in an empty St. Peter’s Square due coronavirus pandemic on April 10, 2020 in Vatican City, Vatican. The Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, meditations for Good Friday this year have been prepared by prisoners, volunteers, family members and others, associated with a corrections facility in Northern Italy. (Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

During a time when the very fabric of reality is being questioned thanks to the ongoing march of AI, a book like this reminds us of the power of the visual in reporting on global news, political movements and historical moments. 

Let’s not pretend that photography hasn’t always had the power to deceive. What is left out of the frame can be just as important as what’s left in – and there’s no doubt that photo manipulation is as old as photography itself. 

Black and white archival photo of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and his assistant receiving wireless signals in the early 1900s.
Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937) (left) and his assistant George S. Kemp receive transatlantic wireless signals, early 1900s. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

But regardless, we have imagery that has informed and illustrated, but has also shocked, explained and even in some cases changed the outcome of the course of history. 

Rows of wooden crosses with numbers marking nameless graves of war victims at a cemetery in Bucha, Ukraine.
KYIV, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 27: Crosses with numbers on the nameless graves of unknown people during Russian-Ukrainian war at the cemetery in Bucha town, Kyiv, Ukraine on December 27, 2022. (Photo by Oleksii Chumachenko/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Beyond all of that, the collection features a huge range of well-known photographers working for some of the biggest news outlets and agencies in the world, so it represents the crème-de-la-crème of photojournalism. 

A chaotic aerial scene showing civilians climbing a concrete wall at Kabul International Airport to flee the city in 2021.
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN-AUGUST 16: Thousands of Afghans rush to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Just some of the big names here you might recognise include Steve McCurry, Abbas, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cecil Beaton, Burt Glinn, right the way up to the present day with Evan Vucci’s iconic image of the assassination attempt of Donald Trump in 2024.  

A historic black and white photograph by Harry Burton showing Howard Carter looking through the open gilded shrines of King Tut's tomb.
British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter (1874 – 1939, left), an Egyptian team member and his Arthur Callender (right) in the burial chamber, looking through the open doors of the four gilded shrines, towards the sarcophagus in the tomb of King Tutankhamen at Luxor, Egypt, 4th January 1924. (Photo by Harry Burton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

That final photograph is a stunning example of exactly what this book is suggesting photography has the power to do. Although it’s hard to know for sure, it has been suggested by many that photographs from this event is what swung the election for Trump, where previously it had been far less of a foregone conclusion. 

The historic spire of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral engulfed in flames and smoke just before collapsing during the 2019 fire.
The steeple and spire engulfed in flames collapses as the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns on April 15, 2019 in Paris. A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, causing a spire to collapse and raising fears over the future of the nearly millenium old building and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched on in sheer horror. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP) (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)

This is an updated version of a book which has already proved popular, and the new additions bring important new context. If you’re at all interested in history, news, photojournalism and how our collective memories are shaped by what we see and consume in the media, it’s a fantastic addition to your bookshelf.

A 1961 photo of West Berlin parents holding up their babies over the concrete wall for grandparents in East Berlin to see.
8/26/1961-Berlin, Germany- A father and mother hold up their two babies for their grandparents across the concrete wall to see, as another West Berlin woman looks on. The family has been divided since the Communists shut the door to freedom for East Berliners. However, there were continuing indications that despite communist measures some East Berliners are still managing to escape to West Berlin.

100 Photos That Changed the World by Roberto Mottadelli, Ganni Morielli and Margherita Giacosa is published by White Star and is available to buy now. ISBN: 9788854421790

Lead image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 7: Smoky haze from wildfires in Canada diminishes the visibility of the Empire State Building on June 7, 2023 in New York City. New York topped the list of most polluted major cities in the world on Tuesday night, as smoke from the fires continues to blanket the East Coast. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

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