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Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream
If the creation of a structure represents the values and ideals of a time, so too does its subsequent abandonment and eventual destruction. In Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream, internationally acclaimed photographer Matthew Christopher continues his tour of the quiet catastrophes dotting American cities, examining the losses and failures that led these ruins to become forsaken by communities that once embraced them. From the heartbreaking story of a state school that would become home to one of the country's worst cases of fatal neglect and abuse to the shattered remains of what was once the largest mall in the United States, "Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream" asks what leads us to leave places behind and what are the consequences of doing so.
Explore the magnificent remnants of two theaters fighting for survival, the largest privately owned zoo in the United States, a beachfront community left for dead when the bridge to it burned, a massive crumbling asylum with a dark past, a derelict ocean liner that was the fastest passenger ship ever built, a ghost town built around a gold mine that caused unimaginable bloodshed, an eerie relic of the days of the megamalls, a steel foundry destroyed by escalating rivalries between management and labor, a haunting Maryland institution that gained a terrible reputation for killing its residents, a city struggling to cope with 13,000 blighted properties left behind when the industries disappeared, and more.
Prefaced by a thoughtful foreword by Mysteries at the Museum host Don Wildman, Matthew Christopher's collection of photographs and essays chronicling these dangerous and hard to access sites force us to confront who we were, who we are, and who we wish to become.
Explore the magnificent remnants of two theaters fighting for survival, the largest privately owned zoo in the United States, a beachfront community left for dead when the bridge to it burned, a massive crumbling asylum with a dark past, a derelict ocean liner that was the fastest passenger ship ever built, a ghost town built around a gold mine that caused unimaginable bloodshed, an eerie relic of the days of the megamalls, a steel foundry destroyed by escalating rivalries between management and labor, a haunting Maryland institution that gained a terrible reputation for killing its residents, a city struggling to cope with 13,000 blighted properties left behind when the industries disappeared, and more.
Prefaced by a thoughtful foreword by Mysteries at the Museum host Don Wildman, Matthew Christopher's collection of photographs and essays chronicling these dangerous and hard to access sites force us to confront who we were, who we are, and who we wish to become.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published September 15, 2016
146 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 6, 2016
Matthew Christopher’s “Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream” is even better than his previous “Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences.” Excellent (really excellent) photographs are paired with extensive essays on the places and their place. Among the most interesting are the Randall Park Mall (once the largest in the world), Schenley High School (opened in 1916 and still going strong when unexpectedly closed in 2008), and the iconic mid-20th Century ocean liner S.S. United States. Hopefully more Abandoned America volumes are coming. I certainly look forward to them.
September 14, 2017
“These spaces are haunted not by phantoms but by the accomplishments and struggles of those who have passed before us dissolving into obscurity.”
--Matthew Christopher
And though actual phantoms haunting the deserted and dilapidated buildings in Christopher’s new book of photographs and essays-- Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream would be really cool (particularly if they were on a vengeful warpath for human brains) what we have is still pretty chilling. I mean nobody wants to think their time here on Earth is going to only amount to a pile of insignificant rubble. We want to think our endeavors are important, that our actions are consequential. The reality as shown in Christopher’s book however shows that many times this is just not true.
Each chapter revolves around a disintegrating structure, a theater or school or hotel that brought pleasure to many folks, drew in politicians and dignitaries and movie stars and provided economic growth to their communities. But now lies empty and unwanted. Forgotten. The photographs are striking and the essays are fascinating-- digging into the histories, successes, and downfalls of these buildings.
Some buildings like the Taunton State Hospital and Forest Haven (which replaced a previous institution shockingly called the Home for Colored Idiots) where racist notions, intolerant views of the mentally infirmed, and ineffective/dated treatments seem like their abandonment were predestined to happen.
The ones that hit me the most though were the buildings I could relate to from my past—shopping malls (Randall Park Mall), schools (Schenley High School), houses in the Midwest (Gary, Indiana), and that big rusting hulk the SS United States I would see from Columbus Boulevard when I lived outside Philly. These were all things that brought me pleasure and warmth and education and shelter, etc. In other words, these are my past. Thinking of their slide into obscurity makes me feel unanchored and wishing for something maybe not as unsettling. You know, like brain stalking phantoms.
--Matthew Christopher
And though actual phantoms haunting the deserted and dilapidated buildings in Christopher’s new book of photographs and essays-- Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream would be really cool (particularly if they were on a vengeful warpath for human brains) what we have is still pretty chilling. I mean nobody wants to think their time here on Earth is going to only amount to a pile of insignificant rubble. We want to think our endeavors are important, that our actions are consequential. The reality as shown in Christopher’s book however shows that many times this is just not true.
Each chapter revolves around a disintegrating structure, a theater or school or hotel that brought pleasure to many folks, drew in politicians and dignitaries and movie stars and provided economic growth to their communities. But now lies empty and unwanted. Forgotten. The photographs are striking and the essays are fascinating-- digging into the histories, successes, and downfalls of these buildings.
Some buildings like the Taunton State Hospital and Forest Haven (which replaced a previous institution shockingly called the Home for Colored Idiots) where racist notions, intolerant views of the mentally infirmed, and ineffective/dated treatments seem like their abandonment were predestined to happen.
The ones that hit me the most though were the buildings I could relate to from my past—shopping malls (Randall Park Mall), schools (Schenley High School), houses in the Midwest (Gary, Indiana), and that big rusting hulk the SS United States I would see from Columbus Boulevard when I lived outside Philly. These were all things that brought me pleasure and warmth and education and shelter, etc. In other words, these are my past. Thinking of their slide into obscurity makes me feel unanchored and wishing for something maybe not as unsettling. You know, like brain stalking phantoms.
December 12, 2016
Beautiful, eerie photographs complemented by fascinating stories -- this is one of the rare photography books where I feel like the text actually adds something to the images. So it's extra unfortunate that this book is so badly copy edited. It's not just that there are mistakes: there are mistakes to the level of the proofreader's notes being left in the final printing -- stuff like "I think you're missing a word here." Some sentences trail off into nothing. Stuff like this happens multiple times.
The raw material here is gorgeous and compelling; it deserves to have these distracting mistakes corrected before the next printing.
The raw material here is gorgeous and compelling; it deserves to have these distracting mistakes corrected before the next printing.
February 20, 2017
I have been eagerly looking forward to Matthew Christopher's second photography book and it did not disappoint. As a fan of his for years, I thoroughly enjoyed his previous book and what he choose to showcase, and I was also entranced with this book's contents.
Christopher chose to highlight thirteen locations- some a single building, others a campus, and finally the city of Gary's blighted landscape. What made this book stand out was his lengthy descriptions of what he knew of each location. His well written and researched essays contributed mightily to the book, for not only does he take magnificent photographs, his written work elevates it. The locales that I found most interesting were the Taunton State Hospital, the Catskill Game Farm and the Fort Pitt Casting Company. Amid dozens of outstanding pictures, the two page spread of sunrise on the crumbling campus of the TSH (page 42-43) was especially beautiful and haunting, while the two pictures of nature invading parts of the Fort Pitt structures (pages 136-137) were atmospheric and lovely. I also was pleasantly surprised that Christopher showcased Vulture City, a ghost town in Arizona, and featured a different region than he usually visits.
I am more than happy to give this book a well deserved five stars, however I would be remiss in not pointing out that there were typos in the text that were distracting. Plus, while I admire the effort he put into his investigations, a bibliography of where he obtained his main sources would add scholarly weight to his excellent research.
I look forward to Christopher's next book and will continue to visit his website, Abandoned America (http://www.abandonedamerica.us/), regularly. In the meantime I can continue to admire both books and ponder modern society's relationship with our past and what we do (and do not) hold dear and what that says about us.
Christopher chose to highlight thirteen locations- some a single building, others a campus, and finally the city of Gary's blighted landscape. What made this book stand out was his lengthy descriptions of what he knew of each location. His well written and researched essays contributed mightily to the book, for not only does he take magnificent photographs, his written work elevates it. The locales that I found most interesting were the Taunton State Hospital, the Catskill Game Farm and the Fort Pitt Casting Company. Amid dozens of outstanding pictures, the two page spread of sunrise on the crumbling campus of the TSH (page 42-43) was especially beautiful and haunting, while the two pictures of nature invading parts of the Fort Pitt structures (pages 136-137) were atmospheric and lovely. I also was pleasantly surprised that Christopher showcased Vulture City, a ghost town in Arizona, and featured a different region than he usually visits.
I am more than happy to give this book a well deserved five stars, however I would be remiss in not pointing out that there were typos in the text that were distracting. Plus, while I admire the effort he put into his investigations, a bibliography of where he obtained his main sources would add scholarly weight to his excellent research.
I look forward to Christopher's next book and will continue to visit his website, Abandoned America (http://www.abandonedamerica.us/), regularly. In the meantime I can continue to admire both books and ponder modern society's relationship with our past and what we do (and do not) hold dear and what that says about us.
December 15, 2024
“Maybe as a culture we are losing the capability to incorporate things of such remarkable grandeur into the fabric of our lives. We see something magnificent and instead of feeling that transcendent awe and humility, we view it as a threat to the worth of the generally shabby architectural constructs we pepper our cities with today.” - Matthew Christopher
I think Matthew Christopher perfectly sums up the American view of structures that were once the pinnacle of architectural achievement, but that subsequent and unappreciative generations have allowed to fall into ruin through apathy and neglect.
We have lost so many of our structures due to overseas competition, the exportation of industry, and the loss of employment opportunities for the American workforce. Now they stand as almost forgotten reminders of all that we once had in this country. The chapter on Gary, Indiana is particularly awful and painfully honest in portraying the grand scale of destruction and abandonment that comes with the loss of a once bustling industry.
As always, Christopher’s photographs capture a beauty and grace that I think would be hard to see in most images of these forgotten buildings and structures. Somehow, even in their ruined states, he manages to capture the essence of their faded grandeur. My only criticism, aside from always wanting more photographs, is the plethora of grammatical and editing errors that plague this book. Dismantling the Dream is littered with poor grammar, missing words, and lines that do not make sense. I actually found myself wondering if the publishing company had accidently published a draft that included the editor’s notes instead of a finalized draft. Despite the distraction of these frequent errors, the book is still a wonderful collection of images that showcase our society’s failures and losses.
I think Matthew Christopher perfectly sums up the American view of structures that were once the pinnacle of architectural achievement, but that subsequent and unappreciative generations have allowed to fall into ruin through apathy and neglect.
We have lost so many of our structures due to overseas competition, the exportation of industry, and the loss of employment opportunities for the American workforce. Now they stand as almost forgotten reminders of all that we once had in this country. The chapter on Gary, Indiana is particularly awful and painfully honest in portraying the grand scale of destruction and abandonment that comes with the loss of a once bustling industry.
As always, Christopher’s photographs capture a beauty and grace that I think would be hard to see in most images of these forgotten buildings and structures. Somehow, even in their ruined states, he manages to capture the essence of their faded grandeur. My only criticism, aside from always wanting more photographs, is the plethora of grammatical and editing errors that plague this book. Dismantling the Dream is littered with poor grammar, missing words, and lines that do not make sense. I actually found myself wondering if the publishing company had accidently published a draft that included the editor’s notes instead of a finalized draft. Despite the distraction of these frequent errors, the book is still a wonderful collection of images that showcase our society’s failures and losses.
January 7, 2017
More like 4.5 but as that's not an option I've gone for 5 stars as I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and read through it in one session. What does mark is down that little bit are 2 issues: 1) it suffers from a few editorial problems with the text which should have been easily noticed and rectified before publication and 2) While all the photographs are beautiful and compositionally very good I noticed dust spots on the camera sensor that should have been cloned out in post production and a number of the images were soft - either not quite focused right or suffering from aggressive noise reduction in post. Admittedly I'm a photographer so more likely to notice photographic flaws than others would be.
Ultimately if you have a fascination with architecture and dereliction then this is a great book and the accompanying text is generally well thought out and informative while managing not to be dry.
Ultimately if you have a fascination with architecture and dereliction then this is a great book and the accompanying text is generally well thought out and informative while managing not to be dry.
June 21, 2023
This serves as a review for both photographer Matthew Christopher's Abandoned America works, Dismantling the Dream (2014) and The Age of Consequences (2016), which compile images of abandoned architecture from across the US (and especially Christopher's rust-belt home state of Pennsylvania) shared previously on his website. Providing an informative summary of each of the locales he photographs, from prisons to factories to hotels, grounding each loss in its own context, his work is respectful of these places and the people who once lived, worked, or played there, from the tragic to the wistful. Interested in preserving and capturing these images before they disappear, Christopher is critical of a society that wasted so much.
Throughout both works, there is a melancholy ambiance, both in the photography and the prose, and it occasionally feels altogether gloomy, with the photographer himself referring to his work as not only a “showcase of abandoned buildings in America but also … to what I believed to be the abandonment of America itself- it’s ideas, its way of life, and its future.” The forward of Dismantling the Dream by the peak oil reactionary doomer James Howard Kunstler exemplifies this, describing the work as “pungent with sadness and nostalgia that amounts to a beautifully composed farewell letter to modernity.”
As a whole, this feels a little hyperbolic to me, and though many of the places that Christopher showcases are victims of toxic policies of a system more interested in profit than in human life, societies have always left behind or built over buildings no longer considered useful, though perhaps, with work like Christopher's, this sad process may be more visible then ever.
I continue these thoughts at Harris' Tome Corner discussing Dead Malls: Nostalgia in the Ruins.
Throughout both works, there is a melancholy ambiance, both in the photography and the prose, and it occasionally feels altogether gloomy, with the photographer himself referring to his work as not only a “showcase of abandoned buildings in America but also … to what I believed to be the abandonment of America itself- it’s ideas, its way of life, and its future.” The forward of Dismantling the Dream by the peak oil reactionary doomer James Howard Kunstler exemplifies this, describing the work as “pungent with sadness and nostalgia that amounts to a beautifully composed farewell letter to modernity.”
As a whole, this feels a little hyperbolic to me, and though many of the places that Christopher showcases are victims of toxic policies of a system more interested in profit than in human life, societies have always left behind or built over buildings no longer considered useful, though perhaps, with work like Christopher's, this sad process may be more visible then ever.
I continue these thoughts at Harris' Tome Corner discussing Dead Malls: Nostalgia in the Ruins.
November 18, 2018
Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream – Matthew Christopher - the stunning view of abandoned areas of America bring an ugly truth of society to life. Christopher pairs beautiful photography with detailed history of his locations discussing each one’s history, future and possible impact on local citizens. Sometimes included are stories of his enthusiastic guides who share their passion for the property. Dismantling the Dream exposes readers to locations including The SS United States, Schenley High School and Randall Park Mall among other locations including cities, hospitals and more. Readers will be drawn in by the beautiful photos and will stay for the compelling stories of loss.
April 10, 2022
So much more than a photo book.
I have always been fascinated by abandoned buildings. What was their history? Why were they abandoned? What would become of them? This book answers those questions. Along with the beautifully haunting photos, Matthew Christopher gives the (sometimes terribly heartbreaking) histories of these once-majestic and grand places, and delves into what caused them to become derilect and forgotten. An incredible photographic and historical journey.
I have always been fascinated by abandoned buildings. What was their history? Why were they abandoned? What would become of them? This book answers those questions. Along with the beautifully haunting photos, Matthew Christopher gives the (sometimes terribly heartbreaking) histories of these once-majestic and grand places, and delves into what caused them to become derilect and forgotten. An incredible photographic and historical journey.
November 3, 2018
Matthew Christopher's photographs are a peek into another realm...he sets up his shots so perfectly. I am fascinated by the devestating beauty he shows. It's the past and the present brought together in a beautiful way. I am really looking forward to his next collection.
March 31, 2019
The pictures are incredible, but the text feels somehow incomplete. Still a gorgeous book.
April 5, 2020
Fascinating look at how we move on and leave structures behind. Malls, hospitals... everything may be temporary. Great photography.
June 27, 2021
Aside from the error on the last page that lists Magestic Theater, East St. Louis, Indiana (it's Illinois) and one photo of it with no mention of it.... I really enjoyed this book!
July 29, 2021
A photographer AND an excellent translator of the decline of America's economy and architectural treasures is Matthew Christopher.
January 20, 2017
Read the full review here: http://newberyandbeyond.com/photograp...
I am weirdly obsessed with abandoned places, so this book is right up my alley. It’s filled with amazing photographs and descriptions of abandoned places, from a classic ghost town to abandoned institutions, schools, game farms, and more. The photos by themselves are fascinating, but the stories of how and why these places were abandoned adds so much to the book.
I am weirdly obsessed with abandoned places, so this book is right up my alley. It’s filled with amazing photographs and descriptions of abandoned places, from a classic ghost town to abandoned institutions, schools, game farms, and more. The photos by themselves are fascinating, but the stories of how and why these places were abandoned adds so much to the book.
August 5, 2017
Cities of the Century.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews