From the First World War to the Cold War, the sexual revolution to the Velvet Revolution, communism to capitalism, the 20th Century was marked by sweeping historical events and changes. In the Face of History brings together 22 of the greatest photographers of this period, whose works collectively map out a century of European experience. Published to accompany a major new exhibition at The Barbican, In the Face of History charts the history of European photography from 1900 to the present day, and features early masters such as Eugène Atget, André Kertész and Josef Sudek, alongside well-known figures such as Brassaï, Robert Doisneau and Wolfgang Tillmans. The book also includes less publicised photographers from the former Eastern bloc, with many works reproduced for the first time. All of the photographers are distinguished by a closeness to their subject matter, and some of them depict these subjects during times of great conflict. André Kertész carried his camera to the front as a conscript in the Austro Hungarian army, and documented the harsh realities of life as a soldier in the Great War. Henryk Ross was the official photographer of the Lodz ghetto in Poland in the Second World War, but also produced a series of clandestine and shocking images of life inside. In the Face of History also features photographers who have depicted the subtler currents of social and cultural change.

Brassaï depicted the 'secret Paris' of the 1930s, with its brothels and drinking dens, while Christer Strömholm photographed a community of transsexuals in the same city two decades later. Similarly, contemporary photographers such as Jitka Hanzlová and Wolfgang Tillmans throw light on changes taking place in Europe in the era of globalisation. In the Face of History includes texts by the curators Kate Bush and Mark Sladen, an essay by the eminent photography historian and curator Martin Harrison, and texts on the individual photographers by a range of leading writers and commentators.