The Life of Yousuf Karsh: Portrait in Light and Shadow tells, for the first time ever, the full story of how a young Armenian immigrant living in Ottawa in the 1930s became the most prominent portrait photographer of the twentieth century. Acclaimed biographer Maria Tippett was granted unprecedented access to the private section of the extensive Karsh archives, and interviewed family members and former colleagues of Karsh (1908-2002). Photographs by Karsh, including those of iconic figures such as Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Elizabeth Taylor, Pablo Picasso, John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, are featured throughout the book.

The book was produced with the full cooperation of the Karsh estate, and reveals the consummate skill with which Yousuf Karsh built and maintained his reputation over six decades.