Don Ades' book serves as an accessible yet detailed introduction to the history of photomontage as an artistic practice since its first edition, published in 1976. This translation is based on the third edition, released in 2021, with additional content and clarifications by the author.

Don Ades clearly outlines the context in which photomontage, at the intersection of photography, cinema, press, politics, and avant-garde art during a time of rapid transformation in these fields, caught the attention of artists as a means of visual expression. The book thoroughly examines the flourishing of photomontage between the two World Wars, when it became one of the key mediums of Dadaism, Surrealism, and early Soviet engaged art.

The specific rhetoric of photomontage, developed by artists such as Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, László Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, and Gustav Klutsis, was later adopted by nonconformists in the latter half of the 20th century, whose work is also discussed in the book.

The text is accompanied by numerous illustrations, presenting a broad and impressive panorama of activist art, effectively operating not only on the cultural but also on the political stage.