The Americans

About this book

First published in France in 1958 then in the United States in 1959 Robert Franks The Americans changed the course of 20th-century photography First published in France in 1958 then in the United States in 1959 Robert Franks The Americans changed the course of twentieth-century photography. In 83 photographs Frank looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal a people plagued by racism ill-served by their politicians and rendered numb by a rapidly expanding culture of consumption. Yet he also found novel areas of beauty in simple overlooked corners of American life. And it was not just Franks subject matter--cars jukeboxes and even the road itselfthat redefined the icons of America; it was also his seemingly intuitive immediate off-kilter style as well as his method of brilliantly linking his photographs together thematically conceptually formally and linguistically that made The Americans so innovative. More of an ode or a poem than a literal document the book is as powerful and provocative today as it was 56 years ago.