Michael Fried (born 1939), Professor at the Humanities Center of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is one of the leading and most discussed critics of art, literature, and, more recently, photography today. His interest in photography dates back to a meeting and the resulting friendship with Jeff Wall about ten years ago. Wall's works and theoretical approach, which are particularly elaborated upon in this book, were the starting point for Fried to engage intensively with what he refers to as "contemporary artistic photography." A group of photographic artists serves as key witnesses to his philosophical, literary, and art theoretical theses, reading like a Who's Who of the Schirmer/Mosel program: alongside Jeff Wall, prominently Bernd and Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, and Andreas Gursky.