The Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer’s unprecedented sixty-year eyewitness account of the pivotal events that have defined modern American and world history.

After he won the Pulitzer Prize for his photos when he was 25, Kennerly became President Gerald R. Ford’s chief White House photographer; he has been on assignment in more than 100 countries. With more than 50 Time and Newsweek covers, Kennerly has cemented his place among the most important photojournalists of our time.

This magnum opus gathers his most iconic images into a sweeping narrative of America’s most consequential era: from the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel, to the battlefields of Vietnam; from the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon’s resignation, to the Ford White House. He was in the room for exclusive coverage of Reagan’s and Gorbachev’s “Fireside Summit” in Geneva; was with Governor George W. Bush the night of the 2000 election that ended in a tie; and photographed the Pentagon as it burned after the 9/11 attack; afterwards went to Afghanistan and Iraq. He was there on Obama’s first night as president; when Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton; and with Kamala Harris when she lost to Trump.

Kennerly’s photographs remain as relevant today as ever. Published as America marks its 250th birthday, this landmark book coincides with a major exhibition of his work at the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Fall 2026.

For students, historians, and anyone who values the power of photojournalism at its peak, this is the definitive volume—a must-have for every collection.

About The Author

David Hume Kennerly is an American photographer. He won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Feature Photography for his coverage of the Vietnam and Cambodian wars, refugees in India, and the Ali-Frazier “Fight of the Century.” He served as President Gerald R. Ford’s chief White House photographer and is the first University of Arizona presidential scholar. His archive is housed there at the Center for Creative Photography. Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer. He is a contributor to The New York Times Book Review and a contributing editor to Time magazine. He has been the Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 2021.