Lost Cities: Beauty in Desolation

by Julian Beecroft, Flame Tree Studio (Creator)

Ancient civilisations in Vietnam, the lost cities of the Amazon, the cities and towns of humankind have fought for space against the overwhelming power of nature. We think we've mastered it, but discoveries across the world show abandoned cities, their proud buildings now flooded, overtaken by the forests, nature taking back what once was its own, with the slow, relentlessness of time. But there are modern places too, towns built by corrupt local officials that were never occupied, amusement parks closed due to terrible tragedy, settlements sinking ineluctably into the mud, cities destroyed by radiation, these are the remnants of a generation, an entire society wiped from the earth, leaving only dismembered traces of memory. This exotic, powerful new book evokes the eerie, haunted places that retain small touches of humanity: a car with only one wheel, a battered doll, torn shirts on a washing line, a broken ferris wheel, all of them are shattered dreams that dwell now only in the imagination.

Genres: Photography

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2017

Reviews

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This large, coffee-table book is filled with astonishing photographs and facts about abandoned cities. It is divided into three sections: Ancient Places, Ghost Towns, and Disaster Zones. The sections are pretty self-explanatory. The section on Ancient Places is pictures of ruins of ancient cities, some of which I had not heard about before. Ghost Towns are about settlements that have been abandoned because of economic reasons (a bust in the mining boom) or settlements that are yet to be filled. Disaster Zones are settlements evacuated because of natural disaster, or because of war, or man-made disaster. My only quibble with the book is that sometimes the paragraphs about a particular place are accompanied by a photo of another place entirely, which kept catching me out. Apart from that, this book is very enlightening, and serves as a reminder of the impermanence of places we assume will continue long after we are gone.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, informative book! I always love looking at photos of abandoned places and reading a bit about them.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very beautiful!