Largely interested because to use images to tell a story you gain a fraction of a moment in time, captured from a very specific angle. As compared to written sources, the depth and clarity of what they can tell us seems rather nebulous. Any recommendations?
This is probably way too broad of a question, as you're question literally encompasses the fields of not only the history of photography, but communication theory, linguistics, and I'm sure philosophy is in there as well.
Can I ask you to clarify what specific instance of images in modern history are you seeking to clarify?
Because for example, the idea of the meaning of a photograph being nebulous is a commonly known problem. Susan Sontag addressed it quite directly in her book "On Photography", with regards to the inherent surrealism of photographs when removed from context.
There's also the post-structuralist tack that "there is nothing but the text," meaning that authorial intent has little authoritative say in the meaning of an image, as you can probably attest by the endless ways people appropriate memes for their own facebook purposes despite not knowing how to "properly" use the meme.
And so on and so on.
So it might help if we can know exactly what circumstance you're trying to discern meaning from an image, and we can direct you to better literature.