The New American Ghetto [Paperback]

Camilo Jose Vergara (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vergara has chronicled life in poor and minority communities across the United States in the New York Times, Atlantic, the Nation, the Village Voice, and other publications. Following in the footsteps of 19th-century urban reformer Jacob Riis, the author, through the power of photography, reveals the destitution and vulgarities of urban decay. Chicago; Newark, New Jersey; New York; Detroit; Los Angeles; and several other cities are the backdrops for his 400 photographs. Vergara focuses on the physical environment, showing the transformation of particular sites over time. His tour of dilapidated neighborhoods and crumbling downtowns is visually startling. Vergara lays bare the direction of a new urbanness that strips the grandeur from its fabric and lays waste to the cityscape, pointing out that while we have wasted cities, many of the ruins are magnificent. An invaluable resource for urban studies and architecture collections.
Michael A. Lutes, Univ. of Notre Dame Lib., Ind.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Unchanging statistics about life in U.S. ghettos, Vergara argues, hide something quite new: the "crystallization of an urbanism tolerant of ever greater inequality." Chilean-born Vergara began photographing American ghettos when he was a Notre Dame undergraduate; he continued while earning a master's degree in sociology at Columbia University. The 9,000-plus slides he has produced since 1977 document the physical changes ghettos--" as intrinsic to the identity of the United States as New England villages, vast national parks, and leafy suburbs" --have experienced. Vergara has explored the meaning of these changes in such publications as the Nation, the Atlantic, Architectural Record, and the New York Times and in gallery, museum, and university exhibitions; his work has also been the subject of a BBC documentary. The New American Ghetto focuses on ghetto geography and ecology, examining over time specific cities' cityscapes, housing, commerce and industry, and defensive fortifications, as well as gentrification, NIMBY phenomena, the effects of homelessness and drugs, and the images--in ghetto homes, on abandoned buildings' walls, and in fortified neighborhoods' streets--that assert the humanity of these shattered communities' residents. Vivid and troubling; an essential acquisition. Mary Carroll --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813523311
• ISBN-13: 978-0813523316
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 0.8 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,764,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving pictorial of America's abandoned cities April 25, 2002

By Jeffrey Jotz

Format:Paperback

Vergara looks at some major American industrial cities that suffered some horrible disinvestment after World War II. He takes an honest look at the people and buildings in some of America's poorest cities (Camden, Newark, Detroit) and how ugly, cheap, security-conscious and modernistic buildings to serve the ghetto's poor residents have replaced fantastic movie palaces, upscale housing and fading remnants of a wealthier, more egalitarian period in U.S. history.

Vergara's prose gets a bit preachy and predictable at times, but the real strength in this book lies in its collection of bleak photos that make you wonder why this nation abandoned its industrial past so quickly and so thoroughly. They speak more than any words can ever do on the plight of America's cities.

He shines when he looks at how buildings transform over time - some for better, most for worse. The majority of these photos were taken in the early-1990s, as the crack epidemic was at its peak and the double-digit decline in urban crime was just beginning. With crime down and the urban real estate market up, I view these decade-old photos with a mix of sadness and hope.

Vergara's later work, _American Ruins_ does an even better job of looking at how the United States has turned its collective back on its cities. If you read this book, make sure you check out _American Ruins_. They both make Vergara our best chronicler of urban decay.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in places unexpected... February 4, 2003

By A. Ort

Format:Paperback

The photographs in this book are gripping. While the narrative is interesting regarding the sociology of the rise (and fall) of the ghetto in several American cities, what is most stunning about this book, perhaps obviously, are the photographs.

How many of us have driven by abandoned or decaying buildings and have either reminisced or have wondered about its history? I think most of us have experienced this. Vergara has captured those moments on film. Yet his interests and the style of his photographs reveal life bursting, or seeping, from behind the apparent emptiness and abandonment. Snippets of conversations or ponderings from those who live in the neighborhoods photographed and quotes from various 'experts' give a framework through which the photographs reveal what is behind the facade.

Graffiti reveals insight and inspiration. And there are various characters outside of the mainstream who find meaning and life in what those who have abandoned these buildings called 'decay'. An intinerant preacher, a modern day Noah and her ark and a whole host of other individuals reveal to us that no matter what it looks like on the outside, there is a spark in all of us that hopes and dreams and envisions a better tomorrow.

This book succeeds on many levels, a sociological level, a picturesque level, a historical level and, most important in my opinion, a human level. It's a book you can peruse over and over again and find something new with each visit.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a humane and compelling view of something we want to ignore October 11, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Slums and ghettos are places that most Americans would care to ignore, but Vergara documents these marginalized "communities" with a personal sincerity and social awareness not often found in this field of study. Those who are involved in bringing back to life the urban cores of American cities would be well-advised to study this book and ponder deeply the author's conclusions. I bought this book today, on a whim, and read it in one sitting. I could not put it down. I'd like to see more works by Mr. Vergara.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a look at changing urban neighborhoods January 24, 2002

By Daniel Donnelly

Format:Paperback

Vergara has done an excellent job documenting the changing landscape of America's inner city neighborhoods.The sequence of photographs and the accompaning text take the reader on a journey which sadly, is all to familiar to many inner city residents.Vergara captures in time lapse fashion, images of some of the country's most notorious inner city areas,from their destruction to their renovation and rebirth.I consider this book a must read if your an aficionado of urbanology and sociology.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A mesmerizing, anguishing record of the debris of capitalism August 31, 1999

By Garrick

Format:Paperback

Vergara, in a remarkable combination of matchless photography and philosophical but highly informed commentary, chronicles the shameful destruction of some of our most beautiful American cities. His keen insight into the explosion of tastelessness and banality, combined with his careful time lapse documentation of urban decay, provides a sobering record of urban America. Without proselytizing or advocating any particular solutions, this book will help the reader understand the unprecedented task faced by those who would rebuild and re-energize our lost cities. This is the one book I would take to the proverbial desert island--hours of contemplation guaranteed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting Account of Post-Industrial Urban America October 26, 2002

By Richard D. Rodriguez

Format:Paperback

Anyone interested in the health of our older industrial cities must read this book. The photographs are truly riveting, and the text really sounds like an account of an extinct civilization. The repeat photographs of the same cityscapes over several years' time are particularly captivating, and usually saddening. Mr. Vergara's focus on Detroit is also fascinating, although I can't say that I agree with his proposed solution for downtown Detroit's woes. I'm looking forward to buying Mr. Vergara's "American Ruins," a more recent work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing chronicle of urban decay October 24, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Vergara chronicles the very process of urban decay in sequential photos taken over time. The cover of the book sums up the author's process: A grand apartment building stands proudly. Then it stands abandoned. Then, over a dozen photos, it stands as a pile of rubble in a field. Then even the rubble is gone. These pictures speak so eloquently that they really don't need accompanying text, yet Vergara manages to write a compelling and informative text. An excellent addition to the library of anyone who still cares about the urban fabric.