As we say goodbye to 2024, Smithsonian magazine continues its tradition of celebrating the power of books of photography to inform, inspire and transport readers to new realms of knowledge and discovery. This year’s list of our favorite books spans a wide spectrum of genres, offering a rich collection of works that delve into history, science, culture and the arts. Each title reflects the ever-evolving curiosity and thirst for understanding that defines the human experience.

Among the standout releases of the year, Wendel White’s Manifest: Thirteen Colonies powerfully blends historical imagery and contemporary photography, exploring the legacy of colonialism. The work thoughtfully examines how America’s founding continues to shape modern identities and landscapes. I’m So Happy You Are Here gives us a captivating look at the diverse voices of Japanese women photographers over seven decades. With intimate, powerful imagery, the exhibition catalog showcases their unique perspectives on identity, society and the evolving role of women in Japan. And Pete McBride’s The Colorado River: Chasing Water is a striking visual journey, blending stunning photography and compelling storytelling. It vividly chronicles the river’s dwindling waters, exploring its environmental impact and the cultural significance for surrounding communities.

Light in the Underworld by Martin Broen

Photographer and cave diver extraordinaire Martin Broen ’s dramatic photographs whisk the viewer away into a secret underwater world. He explores the network of underwater cave systems in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, gaining access via cenotes , or natural pits or sinkholes.

One might expect the water there to be murky, but the visibility in cenotes can be quite exceptional, Broen notes in Light in the Underworld , as limestone acts as a natural filter for rendering water clear and free from suspended particles. His dramatically lit underwater landscapes of jagged stalactites and stalagmites are made even more striking by the presence of divers floating in between them.

Visibility can change rapidly, however, and narrow passages can make it extremely difficult to carry the necessary equipment and air tanks. Broen has had a couple of situations where things got to a point where he thought he was not coming out. Yet it’s all worth it to him.

Manifest: Thirteen Colonies by Wendel White

“I am increasingly interested in the residual power of the past to inhabit material remains,” New Jersey-based photographer and academic Wendel White writes in his new book, Manifest: Thirteen Colonies . “The ability of objects to transcend lives, centuries and millennia suggests a remarkable mechanism for folding time, bringing the past and the present into a shared space that is uniquely suited to artistic exploration.” These words echo throughout the pages of this powerful and thoughtfully composed work.

White traces the Black experience in American history, photographing objects ranging from the significant ( Jimi Hendrix’s vest and a manuscript of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God ) to the seemingly mundane (a hair-straightening comb, a pressed corsage and a decorated white china pitcher). He worked with university, state and museum archival collections, including artifacts from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture .

He photographs his subjects on black velvet, working with selective focus and depth of field, and brings an equality of scale to objects of all sizes. White’s visual style brings an added dimension and drama to even flat pieces, like books and historical documents, inviting the viewer to look more deeply and learn more about the backstories of the objects.

He had the initial inspiration for the Manifest project nearly 15 years ago. While working on a landscape project in Rhode Island, White happened upon a lock of Frederick Douglass’ hair in the University of Rochester’s Special Collections. “Direct contact with a remnant of Douglass’ body was powerful and transformative,” writes White in his book, and the photographer “became completely absorbed in the ideas around African American material culture in public collections.”

Throughout the Manifest project, White has photographed hundreds of objects at over 50 locations dedicated to preserving Black history and culture. Images from Manifest: Thirteen Colonies are currently on exhibit at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum through mid-April 2025. — J.C.

Snail World 2: Welcome to Slimetown by Aleia Murawski and Sam Copeland

In Snail World 2: Welcome to Slimetown , Aleia Murawski and her collaborative partner Sam Copeland create and cinematically photograph teeny, tiny worlds for—you guessed it—snails! These meticulously crafted scenes range from the surreal to the mundane, everything from a snail encountering a crashed flying saucer, to a snail checking out the horror movies at the local video store, to a couple of snails grabbing a bite at the local diner.

Murawski and Copeland are continuing to conceive and expand their Slimetown universe for these adventurous mollusks in this sequel to Snail World: Life in the Slimelight . “ Snail World 2 is a more detailed study of Slimetown and our snails’ favorite haunts, like the Snail Salon, thrift store or Halloween Town,” says Murawski. “It is a project about being mystified by the world around you, which can be both frightening and beautiful.”

The collaboration between Illinois-based artists Murawski and Copeland began nearly ten years ago, constructing miniature sets on their kitchen counter. They introduced unexpected characters into their sets—their pet snails. “They are super curious, and we would watch our snails in total amazement as they explored their new homes,” says Murawski. The creative possibilities seemed endless.

“It is hard not to wonder what they are seeing and experiencing at such a small scale and to keep imagining different scenarios to create around and with them,” says Murawski. Their current cast consists of nine adult snails, each playing various characters in their work. — J.C.

Sons of the Living by Bryan Schutmaat

The black textured cloth cover of photographer Bryan Schutmaat ’s new monograph, Sons of the Living , with its black title print and black page edges, is unassuming. But open it and immediately get transported into a black-and-white world of drifters with piercing, thousand-yard stares, and dusty, unforgiving landscapes and structures. Places where life is difficult, yet beautiful, and it shows in these gorgeous large-format images.

It's a project ten years in the making, photographed during Austin-based Schutmaat’s numerous travails throughout the deserts of the American West. But where exactly does he find such intriguing faces and places? “I’ve always met interesting characters along the interstates of Arizona, especially near Quartzsite by the California border,” says Schutmaat. And he’s particularly fond of the views in southern Utah.

Photographs from Sons of the Living are currently on display at Marshall Gallery in Santa Monica, California, through January 11, 2025. “I definitely want people to feel moved,” Schutmaat says. “I can’t be more specific than that, because the viewer’s emotional response isn’t up to me.” — J.C.

I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now

Juneteenth Rodeo by Sarah Bird

Trophy-toting cowboys, locked-in barrel racers and tailgating spectators are just some of the subjects captured by writer and photographer Sarah Bird in her recently released book Juneteenth Rodeo .

During the 1970s, in East Texas, Bird, who lives in Austin, was compelled to photograph Black rodeos put on to celebrate Juneteenth , which was not yet nationally celebrated. “What I most wanted to capture in the book was the vibrant joy that made me fall in love with Black rodeos from the first instant—especially Juneteenth rodeos,” says Bird. “More reunion than rodeo, the holiday—virtually unknown in the late 1970s to the rest of the country—was a time when a parade of former residents returned from the Big City, usually Houston, to the rural communities where they’d grown up.”

Juneteenth Rodeo serves as proof of the celebrated and proud culture of Black rodeos , often overlooked in the history of cowboyism. — D.B.

Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue

Any history of photography would be remiss to not include Swedish American photographer Robert Frank and his seminal monograph, The Americans . Published in France in 1958 and the United States in 1959, the book of 83 photos taken across the country—everyday scenes of cowboys, nannies, storefronts and more, with visual undertones of politics, alienation, power and injustice—influenced an entire generation of photographers. Now, more than 60 years later, comes Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue , a new book that looks at Frank’s contributions to the art world beyond photography.

The catalog for an exhibition of the same title at the Museum of Modern Art, which runs through January 11, 2025, contains some of Frank’s classic photographs—a portrait of Beat writer Jack Kerouac typing away at a typewriter, seemingly unaware of the camera, and New York City street scenes. However, it’s the works in other mediums, such as film stills and paintings, that allow us to dive deeper into Frank’s genius. — D.B.

Before Easter After by Patti Smith and Lynn Goldsmith

Poet and musician Patti Smith is the focus of longtime friend and collaborator Lynn Goldsmith’s lens in Before Easter After . “This is the only book outside of Patti’s book that she has allowed to have her lyrics used—in fact, she picked which lyrics for what images,” says Goldsmith, attesting to their relationship. In the book’s foreword, Smith says, “Lynn did not project herself, but provided an atmosphere where I could be myself, unleash my own potential.” Rarely seen portraits of Smith, where she is a collaborative muse, are accompanied by raw images of the singer-songwriter performing onstage and hanging out behind the scenes, giving viewers a glimpse of the many sides of the rock ‘n’ roll icon. But it’s the photographs by Goldsmith of Smith’s accidental fall from a stage in Tampa, Florida, on January 23, 1977, and the intimate shots documenting her recovery that capture Smith’s resilience. She produced her best-selling album Easter only a year later. — D.B.

The Colorado River: Chasing Water by Pete McBride

Pete McBride ’s The Colorado River is a visually stunning and deeply personal exploration of water, its significance to life and the environmental challenges it faces. A renowned photographer, filmmaker and activist through adventure, McBride spent over five years tracing the Colorado River from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to its dry end in Mexico. The book is a blend of striking imagery and thoughtful narrative, capturing not only the river’s vast landscapes but also the social and ecological issues contributing to its depletion.

Through a combination of photographs, stories and reflections, McBride takes readers on a journey that speaks to the heart of the American West, a region where water is both a lifeline and a scarce resource. His firsthand experiences along the river reveal the contrasting beauty and devastation of this once mighty waterway, which has been heavily diverted and dammed for human use.

The Colorado River is both a photographic memoir and an urgent environmental call to action. McBride’s vivid imagery and evocative storytelling bring the Colorado River’s story to life, highlighting its vital importance to millions of people, ecosystems and industries, while also addressing the consequences of overconsumption and climate change. This book is an essential read for anyone concerned about the future of water and our planet’s sustainability. — Q.N.

Sea Beach by Ismail Ferdous

Sea Beach is a poignant photographic exploration of life along the shores of the Bay of Bengal, particularly focusing on the coastal region of Bangladesh. Through his lens, Ismail Ferdous captures the delicate interplay between humanity and nature, painting a vivid portrait of people who depend on the sea for their livelihoods. The book is a meditation on the harsh realities of coastal life, highlighting both the beauty and the vulnerability of the landscape.

Ferdous’ images evoke a deep sense of connection to the land and the ocean, offering glimpses of daily life—fishermen at dawn, families gathering in the late afternoon sun, children playing along the water’s edge. But the book also confronts the environmental and socioeconomic challenges faced by these communities, particularly in the context of climate change. Rising sea levels, erosion and cyclones shape the lives of those who call this fragile coastline home.

Sea Beach is more than just a collection of striking images; it is an emotional narrative that brings to light the urgency of preserving coastal ecosystems while honoring the cultures and traditions of those who live in close harmony with the sea. Through his evocative photography, Ferdous reminds us of the intimate connection between human life and the ever-changing natural world. — Q.N.

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Jeff Campagna is a photo editor at Smithsonian magazine. You can follow him on Instagram at @jeffcampagna .