American Ruins

by Arthur Drooker

"American Ruins" is the first photography book to document historic ruins throughout the United States. It presents a stunning visual record of ruins ranging from ancient Native American dwellings in the Southwest to the remains of Gilded Age mansions on the East Coast and a king's summer home in Hawaii. Luminous infrared photographs expose crumbled walls, weathered facades and overgrown flora, and are accompanied by brief essays detailing the historical, geographical and architectural significance of each site. This landmark publication raises awareness of and appreciation for overlooked ruins that remain unknown even to most Americans. It captures the visual poetry of each place and offers a new way of seeing the landscape, the past and the collective identity of America. This work is a unique, awe-inspiring photographic record of American history. This is the first photographic record of historic ruins throughout the United States. It will appeal to anyone interested in architecture, photography, history, archaeology and Americana.

Genres: Photography, History, Nonfiction, Art, American History, Architecture

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though this book has the same style layout and infrared photography, I much prefer his later book Lost Worlds: Ruins of the Americas. The ruins themselves in American Ruins were far less interesting to me.

A few places were cool but they tended to be on private property, not places you could readily visit.

The ruins pictured are all within the United States but there's nothing from the Northwest included.

I'd suggest flipping through the book to see if anything catches your fancy and then reading his page summary about the location if you're interested. I would skip the essay at the beginning. The foreword and Drooker's introduction were fine.

Really though, I'd suggest checking out the ruins in Lost Worlds.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Infrared pictures are nice in smaller doses.

[Scott Benowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's pretty straightforward- the title tells you precisely what this book is. This is a photo essay of abandoned buildings throughout the U.S., which were constructed in previous centuries, many of the buildings that are featured in this book are crumbling and are gradually being reclaimed by nature.
The photos in this book are all excellent.
If you're interested in architectural history, if you're interested in architectural photography or if you're interested in abandoned buildings, you'll want to add this book to your reading lists.

[Jennifer Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a short note...I would have given this five stars, but there was no section on the North or Midwest. Surely there were at least a few worthy structures in those regions.

[Kitap · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Ruins will always be interpreted, and this openness to interpretation is one reason why the same structure can fascinate different generations of travelers. A ruin is by definition incomplete. We supply what has vanished from our own imaginations and memories, so a visit is a dialogue between an incomplete reality and the ideas and thoughts of the individual visitor.... The potency of ruins is in what we think and feel, not in the facts we are told. Our engagement with them is imaginative, creative, and personal." -Christopher Woodward, p.14

This book's central flaw is that it doesn't consistently present compelling photos of the titular American ruins. While many of the shots are well composed, and a few can even be said to be otherworldly, too often they are what my undergraduate photography prof would call, in his Venezuelan accent, "flat" and "crush[ed]." Particularly in photos where there is little vegetation, the infrared range seems to remove a sense of depth, making it hard to gauge distance and so appreciate the ruin being photographed. (There is simply no excuse for so many visually uninteresting images to be retained in the age of digital, instant-develop-and-delete photography.) The whole American ruins angle and IR photo medium are fascinating, and several shots are impressive, but on the whole this is a subject awaiting further exploration by a more accomplished photographer.

[Tess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photos of ruins all over the country. All I could do while looking at this book was imagine how much fun I'd have at each site. My only complaint is that the photos are all done on infrared, and while it's lovely, I think they would have been better on regular film.

Here's a good quote from the essay by Christopher Woodward:

"The new office blocks in Silicon Valley are built to be as anonymous and flexible as possible, able to be let to a diversity of temporary owners. Only the logos change. That is a pragmatic response, of course, to the reality of an economy that can put up bigger structures than ever before, more quickly than ever before -- and abandon them more quickly than ever before. But what will the buildings we erect today tell future peoples about the aspirations of our culture?"

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely collection of abandonments and ruins, "American Ruins" was predictable in its selections of locations (Bannerman's Castle was an obvious choice!), thin on quantity, and should have been published as a hardcover addition. While the size of the book is suitable to a photograpy coffeetable collection, the material here is just not substantial enough to rate it in this category. You can flip through "American Ruins" in ten minutes or less! While the concept behind the book is exquisite and something that, while not original, could have made for a magnificent volume, in this instance, "American Ruins" was simply smacked together and does not rate. Glance at a copy in your library if you are curious, but save your cash for a much larger volume of more adventurous photography.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Lovley photos

[Sarah Awbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, insightful book. Breaks your heart but worth reading every single word & looking at every single picture.

[Mike Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.u...

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really care for touched up photographs, and this book features a plethora of them.