Abandonings: Photographs of Otter Tail County, Minnesota [Hardcover]

Maxwell MacKenzie (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Maxwell MacKenzie was drawn back to his birthplace, near the border of North Dakota on the edge of the Great Plains, to photograph the remnants of a life lived by his ancestors. He finds "a profound beauty" in the weathered houses and derelict barns that dot the remote landscape once peopled by immigrant Norwegians and Swedes--who braved great hardship to make a home for themselves on the lone prairie before the Depression forced them to leave. The words of Wallace Stegner and other writers provide a backdrop for the striking color photos of a place left behind.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: Elliott & Clark Pub; 1St Edition edition (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880216345
• ISBN-13: 978-1880216347
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,624,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Photographs that stun the visual senses, July 11, 2001

By 

F. Lennox Campello "f. lennox campello" (Potomac, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abandonings: Photographs of Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Hardcover)

This is an absolutely amazing book..... MacKenzie flies around his birthplace regions, and then finds these places, that once he photographs, become temples of the ravages of time. These are photos that make one sense's shudder at the visual touch of the moment when something went awry with a schoolhouse, or a barn or a house. He has frozen, via huge, elegant landscapes, a moment in time, an uncomfortable, but spectacular moment. I was stunned by these photographs and by the senseless beauty and brooding quality of them.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures the beauty of the Prairies, September 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Abandonings: Photographs of Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Hardcover)

The Midwestern Prairies are dramatic settings that are often underrated in terms of their scenic beauty. This pictorial does a great job a capturing the beauty of the Prairie landscape and the early houses and barns. The wide shots are very well suited to the wide expanses of Prairie and do a great job of showing the oceanic expanses of Prairie that that a standard photo can't capture. The design of the pages and the book are very well done. A number a Prairie pictorials I've scene have some great shots but don't have world class design. This one has both. The text that accompanies the photos is well chosen and interesting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful reminder of home, January 24, 2008

By 

C. Kopveiler (New York Mills, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Abandonings: Photographs of Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful tribute to rural Minnesota! I grew up and still live in Otter Tail County. I have many beautiful pictures myself of the same schoolhouse and the small shed from the cover, and treasure the fact that these familiar scenes are preserved in such a beautiful book. Another barn in the book sits on my friend's farm, so it is particularly sentimental. I just feel it is a shame that this beautiful and charming schoolhouse, which survived not only the elements and the test of time, but also the development of modern civilization all around its walls...which sat for so many generations on its desolate perch on the prairie has been moved a different location to make a summer cabin for the author. What a tragedy. Exactly why capturing these pictures is so important, before they are gone forever!