Sontag's insights on the effects of mass visual media on our culture hold up remarkably well for a book that's more than 50 years old, and there's some great quotes that distil the appeal of photography as an art form. However chapter 2 is brutal - it's mostly concerned with Diane Arbus' portraiture of disabled people, who Sontag sees as "grotesques". She writes with open revulsion about the perverse and misguided attempt to imbue them with dignity. If you skip chapter 2, you can probably give this 5 stars, but I didn't so I can't.