What role should images — and, more specifically, photographs — play in the work of a historian? That is the question that first sparked a public debate between François Soulages and Pierre Vidal-Naquet on 9 May 2006 at the Maison européenne de la photographie [European photography centre]. In this book, they discuss the objective values of images and their testimonial importance: an image or photograph serves as an effective tool that can enrich historical analysis, whether that of contemporary or of ancient times.
This dialogue is also an opportunity for readers to rediscover the evolution of Pierre Vidal-Naquet's thought and his commitments.

Pierre Vidal-Naquet (1930-2006), a historian specializing in ancient, as well as contemporary, Greece, was Director of Graduate Studies (in Greek History) at the École pratique des hautes études.