Think of the quirky buildings you pass every day but whose quiet beauty you take for granted—the moviehouses, juke joints, soda fountains, barbershops, roadside diners, and storefront churches. You don’t miss them until they’re gone. As suburban sprawl and strip malls conquer the country, these vestiges of a lost way of life are falling under the wrecking ball. Here the photographer Michael Eastman has made the ultimate road trip, crisscrossing the nation dozens of times, to capture these buildings on film before they vanish. These dreamy images call us to question what we choose to let go in the wake of contemporary life, with a cool melancholy that evokes the work of Edward Hopper, Jack Kerouac, and William Eggleston. There is a wry sense of humor here as well. The book delights in the idiosyncracies of America’s vernacular styles, ranging from Depression Deco to New England clapboard in random juxtapositions that accrue over time in a town’s landscape. Countless visual puns arise among the book’s many detailed images of signs and statuettes. Vanishing America catalogues great everyday American architecture and design. But it also offers a provocative portrait of the silent emptiness that has descended upon vanishing small communities everywhere.
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"...a liberation from the glaring rat race of American life." ~LA Times
"Eastman's photos of fading American kitsch...are like a post-apocalyptic stage set for lost mid-century dreams." ~Print
"Texture, variety, human scale--these are what we stand to lose when these places disappear. Consider it a call to arms." ~National Geographic Traveler
"The careful excision of human life forces us to focus on what might otherwise seem unremarkable, sweeping aside the dust to expose the archaeological strata of US society that still lie there beneath the modern." ~World of Interiors
“Shot without people, the photos capture the crumbling decay of movie houses, diners, drive-ins, and so on across the United States. …Eastman, who has a terrific eye and knows how to stay out of the way of his subjects, photographed most of these places with an unvarnished objectivity that veers away from nostalgia toward despair.” ~Su Casa Magazine
"Eastman's photos of fading American kitsch...are like a post-apocalyptic stage set for lost mid-century dreams." ~Print
"Texture, variety, human scale--these are what we stand to lose when these places disappear. Consider it a call to arms." ~National Geographic Traveler
"The careful excision of human life forces us to focus on what might otherwise seem unremarkable, sweeping aside the dust to expose the archaeological strata of US society that still lie there beneath the modern." ~World of Interiors
“Shot without people, the photos capture the crumbling decay of movie houses, diners, drive-ins, and so on across the United States. …Eastman, who has a terrific eye and knows how to stay out of the way of his subjects, photographed most of these places with an unvarnished objectivity that veers away from nostalgia toward despair.” ~Su Casa Magazine
About the Author
Michael Eastman’s work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and has published two previous books of photography. He lives in St. Louis.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Necessary Disappointment,
By
This review is from: Vanishing America: The End of Main Street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and Other Everyday Monuments (Hardcover)
If You're a fan of Michael Eastman's fine art photography, as I am, you must get a copy of his latest book, "Vanishing America." You must get it, but you'll be disappointed in it--disappointed in the layout, particularly, but also in the reproduction.
As to the layout, the photographs are given no respect. They are presented full bleed, that is, without margins. A typical two-page spread has a large picture full-bleed on the left side, and an array of smaller pictures--also full bleed and butting up against each other so it's hard to tell where one ends and the next begins--on the right. This is not a book of photographs so much as it is a book of Americana, the kind you see on the bargain racks of the large chain bookstores. As to the reproduction, I remember seeing a large (50x40 inch) print of "Shotgun House, New Orleans" at a show a few years ago. It was $5000 framed and I wanted it, but I had neither the wall space nor the money, so I contented myself with a free, postcard-size promotional reproduction. This reproduced the colors of the larger image very well and it served as a good reminder of why I liked it. This picture is reproduced in the book, slightly cropped, for no good reason, and with a decided magenta cast, compared to my postcard copy. Looking at the picture in the book, it doesn't remind me at all of my feelings for the original print. I assume books of American are more profitable than books of photographs. If so, I can forgive this disappointing book. Fine art photographers need all the support they can get.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Catch 'em while you can,
This review is from: Vanishing America: The End of Main Street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and Other Everyday Monuments (Hardcover)
The subtitle to this fascinating book is The End of Main Street and Michael Eastman has taken it upon himself to record as much of it as possible before progress or neglect flattens what's left. Flick through the pages and you'll see more than two hundred shots of small town commonplace. The five chapters (Theaters, Churches, Hangouts, Doors, Signs, Stores, Services, Autos, Hotels and Restaurants) pretty much cover what you'll see in any town across the country.
Nearly every photo is an exterior and I thought one of the strengths of Eastman's work is the no-nonsense straight-on compositions. These buildings with their signs, peeling paint or structural modifications are visually intriguing enough not to require odd angles, soft focus or other gimmicks and even though they are photos of record the rich color and choice of subject lifts the contents of the book above similar photography. The book's production is as impressive as the photos, the square format, matt art paper and 175 screen all come together beautifully. Four stars? Though the book was designed by Pentagram it does have, in my view, a rather annoying fault: there are several pages where photos are butted together which makes for initial visual confusion and I think weakens each relevant photo. A thin black or white line, just to give the minimum separation, would have solved the problem. Fortunately most pages don't have butted photos and on the rest the photos are allowed to sparkle by themselves and they do. ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Neglected Pieces of America,
By
This review is from: Vanishing America: The End of Main Street Diners, Drive-Ins, Donut Shops, and Other Everyday Monuments (Hardcover)
No matter where you live, you probably pass buildings that have seen better days on your daily commute. If not buildings, then maybe signs, whether they are on billboards or sides of buildings. All of these items harken back to an earlier time; a time when the area was more vibrant. Now replaced by suburban shopping malls, a changing population, or economics, these store fronts and signs are falling into our distant memories. With Vanishing America: The End of Main Street, Michael Eastman captures these items before they are demolished.
Contents: Introduction Theaters Churches Hangouts Doors Signs Stores Services Automobiles Hotels Restaurants About the Author This book is filled with beautiful and sad photographs of pieces of America that disappear every day. While the population continues to move out from city centers, Eastman ventures into those spots to show you what you are missing or fail to see during your morning and afternoon rush hours. Each photo is worthy of your time, examining not only what is in front of you, but surrounding the focal point. While every chapter has its share of exceptional photographs, I thought that the chapter Doors was the best. There is something about these entranceways that speak to me. I don't know if it is the boarded up windows and locked doors, the storefronts covered with newspapers, or abandoned schools, they are haunting pictures. Other photos, full of energy and "life," are without any people. I don't know how Eastman was able to shoot those photos. An example is "Cabin Motels, Ketchum, Idaho." There is a vehicle in front of every room, but not a single person in the shot. I know that this Ketchum, Idaho, but still-where are the people? I think that aspect of the pictures is the most unsettling; all of these excellent photos, in fairly populated areas, and not a human in view. While I loved this book, there were some small, annoying issues with it. For one, none of the photos have any sort of border around them, When the publisher puts 4 pictures on one page, they seem to "bleed" into one another. Another problem I had was that some of the pictures seemed to have been tightly cropped. An example is the photo "3'5'6' Hotel Pool, Fort Lauderdale, Florida." In the photo, I can see the 3' and 5' sections of the pool, but the 6' section is missing. If that was on purpose, I have no idea. Finally, some of the titles of the photos seem to have shifted somewhere in the publishing process. I don't know if this is due to sloppy editing, lazy proofreading, or an issue at the publisher, but it was somewhat shocking in a book of this caliber. Other than those issues, this is an excellent book that catalogues some parts of America that are slowly disappearing. I hope that after reading it, you will come to see your environment in a different light, much as I have.
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