Along Some American Highways [Hardcover]

Andrew Cross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Andrew Cross's photographs depict the spaces of the long distance road trip – the places passed through and passed by – a landscape that is now familiar almost wherever we are. It is the vernacular landscape of a growing consumer culture – fast food outlets, shopping malls, distribution depots, truck stops – that have congregated around highway exits and intersections.

Cross brings together the inherent romanticism of the road journey with the corporate culture that now so dominates not only the enviroment of the American road-trip, but also the wider world. His photographs are a travellers glance at places that are themselves transient and impermanent, but all pervasive.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"He has a great eye for the beautifully bland, his images emphasising a sense of stillness that can be found in the most workaday enviroments. The results are quiet, dignified and beautiful."
Blueprint

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog Publishing (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1901033740
• ISBN-13: 978-1901033748
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,267,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For highway engineers only., December 11, 2003

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Along Some American Highways (Hardcover)

Not quite the usual collection of photos capturing US Interstates, most other photographers always include a few images of abandoned buildings and mechanical detritus along the way and perhaps this is why I was rather disappointed with this book. Andrew Cross focuses rather narrowly on the actual road in many of the sixty-six photos (a possible coffee-table book for highway engineers) and ignores the potential of seeing highways in various weather conditions and at different times of the day other than daytime. I think the two books by Jeff Brouws: Highway: America's Endless Dream and Readymades: American Roadside Artifacts present a much more exciting view of people, places and things along American's concrete ribbons.

Many of the photos in Cross' book seem rather unimaginatively cropped, either too much sky or too much grass in the foreground, this unfortunately pulls the eye away from interesting parts, a cluster of fast food signs for instance, or some other visually saturated part of a photo. Three photos of a factory, surrounded by a huge parking lot (located at I-75, Exit 69/SR 40, Florida) look very dull and perhaps should have been left out.

The books production was also disappointing, on the (un-numbered) 128 pages there are only sixty-six photos (eleven spreads had two photos) I really can't see a reason for leaving so many blank left-hand pages. I found 'Along Some American Highways' very bland, unfortunate because this area of American commonplace can produce vibrant, powerful imagery.