In October of 2002, Aperture released a 240-page golden-anniversary hardcover book that comprises, in effect, the pictorial history of the second half of the twentieth century. The book features 250 images by photographers published by Aperture magazine over the past fifty years—from the masters of the twentieth century to today's emerging innovators. More than forty images in the book have never before been published.

The book traces Aperture's fascinating history as well as the currents in photography that have brought the medium to its present status as one of the most important art forms. It demonstrates how Aperture has shaped this evolution while expanding the international audience for photography and the visual arts.

"Dazzling in its breadth and iconic imagery, the book is a labyrinthine visual journal."
—American Photo, January/February 2003

"...the modern progenitor of a multitude of small-scale photography book publishers. That the current market for books that present photographs as works of art is so lively is testimony to Aperture’s influence."
—The New York Times Book Review, December 8, 2002

"Aperture, the superb journal for serious photography, has not only survived to the hoary age of 50... it has turned itself into a New York institution."
—New York Press, October 16, 2002

"[Richard] Cravens' lively, graceful account, illustrated with 250 photographs from Aperture's vast archive, is both an insider's history of modern photography and the biography of an idea: that photography can be as important and powerful as writing, painting, or music."
—Camera Arts, October/November 2002

"...the photographs leap all over the place, so a portrait of Marcel Duchamp from 1965 sits opposite a drag queen from 2000, seemingly at ease...But they all have one thing in common: quality."
—The Sunday Telegraph Magazine ( U.K.), October 13, 2002

"...No other photographic endeavor has created as many important, memorable and indispensable high quality records of photographic creation as Aperture."
— Paris Photo, September 2000