American Geography [Hardcover]

Award-winning photographerMatt Black traveled over100,000 miles to chronicle thereality of todays unseen andforgotten America. Visceral... Like [Robert] Franks 'The Americans,' Blacks contrasty,? The photographs presented here by Black provide the same tenderness [as Lange and Evans]: carefully selected work that narrowly threads the needle. He gestures, never points. He empathizes, but does not pity. The photographs are remarkable... a lovely body of work. The images are so vivid and riveting that you can't help but be drawn to them and the questions they ask... An essential document for our increasingly unsteady times. These unforgettable photos of poverty challenge the idea of the American Dream...?they call to mind the work of earlier documentarians who looked critically at American society, such as Robert Frank.?Black wants the viewer to realize that this is what the details of inequality look like on the ground, and that it is the norm, not the exception, for a large swath of citizens. A deafening boom that lays bare the harsh reality of inequality in America. The disconcerting reality that Blacks compassionate yet sober eye reveals may be too uncomfortable for the casual viewer. Yet the images contained within? Compelling... As with his powerful photos, Black's written notebook entries offer simple, moving descriptions of the people he meets on his travels.