Preface: The Black book -- Polemics. A little history of photography criticism; or, Why do photography critics hate photography? -- Photojournalism and human rights: the calamity of the Kodak -- Places. Warsaw, Loda, Auschwitz: in the waiting room of death -- China: from Malraux's dignity to the Red Guards' shame -- Sierra Leone: beyond the sorrow and the pity -- Abu Ghraib and the jihad: the dance of civilizations -- People. Robert Capa: the optimist -- James Nachtwey: the catastrophist -- Gilles Peress: the skeptic.