Since its founding in 1952, Aperture has grown from a small journal to a cultural phenomenon that reaches the largest and most diverse audience for significant photography worldwide. By examining its own history, Photography Past/Forward demonstrates how Aperture has incontrovertibly shaped photography. Over 175 images by master photographers, including Ansel Adams, Robert Capa, William Eggleston, Duane Michals, Cindy Sherman and Sebastiao Salgado, trace the evolution of both the magazine and the photographers whose work became an important part of it. The volume is supplemented by texts excerpted from the first issue right up to the present day in which a range of voices expound theories, manifestos and musings on a wide selection of photography-related subjects. R.H. Cravens, a long-time contributor to Aperture, provides an in-depth chronicle of the magazine's history, and also interviews Michael E. Hoffman, Publisher and Executive Director from 1964-2001, whose comprehensive vision and voice unearths a history as rife with innovation as the history of photography itself.

R. H. Cravens is a long-time contributor to Aperture.