The changing face of America

About this book

From the Great Boston Fire to the Grand Canyon, from the building of the Brooklyn Bridge to downtown Las Vegas, The Changing Face of America tells the story of how the American landscape has evolved, as seen through the eyes of the country's greatest photographers. Among those whose work is included are William Clift, Carlton Watkins, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White, and Alfred Stieglitz. Here are: Carlton Watkin's unique wooden dam from 1871, Dorothea. Lange's depression-era vision of the road west; Frank Gohlke's electric lightning flash; Samuel Gottscho's smoky view of Manhattan; David Plowden's sinister nuclear plant; Emmet Gowin's devastated Mt. St. Helens; Edward Weston's dryly humorous hot coffee in the Mojave Desert; and Timothy O'Sullivan's poignant view of the ancient ruins at Canyon de Chelle. Rarely seen masterpieces are interspersed with some of the most famous pictures of the American landscape. Together. They provide a new perspective on how our open spaces, natural wonders, rivers, highways, farms, shorelines, industrial plants, suburbs, and cities have changed over the years. Here, too, are provocative juxtapositions of the same scenes in the past and present, such as Eadweard Muybridge's 1876 panorama of San Francisco and Mark Klett's panorama shot from the same location 114 years later. What emerges is a remarkable visual - and critical - history of America.