Nature Exposed

Reviews / Votes

The strength of the book lies in Tucker's analysis of the broad historical context in which scientific photography emerged in Victorian Britain. Science Tucker's book is a challenging exploration of how, when, and under what conditions photography came to be seen as an enhanced representational tool for a range of scientific practices in Victorian Britain. -- Ian Burney American Historical Review Nature Exposed tells us about our past, but has current resonance in our visually based culture and is a timely, interesting, and valuable book. -- Frances Robertson Technology and Culture A useful book. -- Daniel M. Fox Nuncius Tucker's brilliant study enlarges traditional concepts of photographic evidence by tying together the social processes and institutions that created the scientific photograph to the shift in the professional development of science itself. -- Marta Braun Victorian Studies The premise and the methodology of the book are sound, and its conclusions important. -- Kelley Wilder History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences Meticulous at every turn, Nature Exposed on nearly every page contains a paragraph that would, on its own, be a superb subject for a doctoral thesis-postgraduates take notes. For the rest of us, it is an impressive, long-overdue critical companion to the early history of scientific photography in Britain that leaves few stones unturned. It is also an enjoyable read, as it delves into some of the quirkier and more entertaining chapters in photographic history. British Journal for the History of Science By examining a wide range of books, articles, and photographs, Tucker writes a history of photography that skilfully maps out the social and professional networks that connected science and photographic practices. -- Mary Hunter Oxford Art Journal As Jennifer Tucker argues in this densely researched book, evaluating evidence involves social values-class, gender, and race-as well as scientific protocols. -- Patrizia Di Bello Bulletin of the History of Medicine A solid and very readable work of scholarship, drawing widely upon periodicals and other neglected print sources, and happily enhanced with reproductions of the many compelling and curious images that it has uncovered and analyzes. -- Daniel Brown Journal of British Studies