In the mid-1950s, Swiss-born New Yorker Robert Frank embarked on a ten-thousand-mile road trip across America, capturing thousands of photographs of all levels of a rapidly changing society. The resultant photo book, The Americans, represents a seminal moment in both photography and in America's understanding of itself. To mark the book's fiftieth anniversary, Jonathan Day revisits this pivotal work and contributes a thoughtful and revealing critical commentary. Though the importance of The Americans has been widely acknowledged, it still retains much of its mystery. This comprehensive analysis places it thoroughly in the context of contemporary photography, literature, music, and advertising from its own period through the present.

About the Author

Jonathan Day is a senior lecturer in visual communications and theoretical and historical studies in art and design.

Reviews

Robert Frank never did say very much and there is not a single word by him in 'The Americans'. Jonathan Day in this book has expertly taken over as Frank's narrator [...] As Jack Kerouac says in his introduction to 'The Americans', 'to Robert Frank I now give this message: you got eyes'. And now we have the words.

-- Eamonn McCabe, Picture Editor of The Guardian from 1988 to 2001



Book Information
ISBN 9781841503158
Author Jonathan Day
Format Paperback
Page Count 186
Imprint Intellect Books
Publisher Intellect Books
Weight(grams) 327g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 178mm * 11mm