"A wonderful book...indispensable for anyone wishing to understand the story of modern photography."
Sebastião Salgado

Things as They Are presents the story of photojournalism over fifty years, from 1955 until today. It takes us from the golden era of the illustrated press—the heyday of Life magazine and Picture Post, and the moment of the Museum of Modern Art's defining Family of Man exhibition—to the explosion of digital media in the twenty-first century. This history is told through the presentation of 125 photojournalism features shot and published throughout the world. These stories are presented in context—shown on the pages of newspapers and magazines, as the public originally experienced them. In this way, Things as They Are reveals how the events of the world, the art of photographers, and the interests of publishers and the press converged on the printed page. It traces how photojournalism has developed over time alongside changing technology, media, fashions in photography—and a changing world. It includes landmark photo-essays by photographers such as W. Eugene Smith, Sebastião Salgado, Mary Ellen Mark, and James Nachtwey, each accompanied by expert commentary. An international panel of one hundred experts—photographers, editors, art directors, historians, and magazine collectors—has made the final selections for the book. They have chosen stories that exemplify the highest quality of work published around the world during each period as well as stories that have played a key role in shaping the history of photojournalism itself, demonstrating important innovations in photography and in publishing.

The book includes a historical essay by Mary Panzer, cultural historian and former Curator of Photographs of the National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), an afterword on the future of photojournalism by Christian Caujolle, curator and founder of Agence Vu Press, and a preface by Michiel Munneke, director of World Press Photo. A timeline of the period is illustrated with iconic winners of the annual World Press Photo awards. In addition, each published picture essay is accompanied by a text explaining the significance of the story, photographer, and publication.

Things as They Are will be accompanied by a global touring exhibition, curated by Christian Caujolle, opening at the Photography Museum, Amsterdam, in October 2005 and traveling to the United States in 2006.