{"product_id":"the-oxford-project","title":"The Oxford Project","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1984  photographer Peter Feldstein set out to photograph every single resident of his town  Oxford  Iowa (pop. 676). He converted an abandoned storefront on Main Street into a makeshift studio and posted fliers inviting people to stop by. At first they trickled in slowly  but in the end  nearly all of Oxford stood before Feldsteins lens. Twenty years later  Feldstein decided to do it again. Only this time he invited writer Stephen G. Bloom to join him  and together they went in search of the same Oxford residents Feldstein had originally shot two decades earlier. Some had moved. Most had stayed. Others had passed away. All were marked by the passage of time.  In a place like Oxford  not only does everyone know everyone else  but also everyone elses brothers  sisters  parents  grandparents  lovers  secrets  failures  dreams  and favorite pot luck recipes. This intricate web of human connections between neighbors friends  and family  is the mainstay of small town American life  a disappearing culture that is unforgettably captured in Feldsteins candid black-and-white portraiture and Blooms astonishing rural storytelling.  Meet the town auctioneer who fell in love with his wife in high school while ice-skating together on local ponds; his wife who recalls the dress she wore as his prom date over fifty years ago; a retired buck skinner who started a gospel church and awaits the rapture in 2028; the donut baker at the Depot who went from having to be weighed on a livestock scale to losing over 150 pounds with the support of all of Oxford; a twenty-one-year-old man photographed in 1984 as an infant in his fathers arms  who has now survived both of his parents due to tragedy and illness.  Considered side-by-side  the portraits reveal the inevitable transformations of aging: wider waistlines  wrinkled skin  eyeglasses  and bowed backs. Babies and children have instantly sprouted into young nurses  truck drivers  teachers  and rodeo riders  become Buddhists  racists  democrats  and drug addicts. The courses of lives have been irrevocably altered by deaths  births  marriages  and divorces. Some have lost God--others have found Him. But there are also those for whom it appears time has almost stood still. Kevin Somerville looks eerily identical in his 1984 and 2004 portraits  right down to his worn overalls  shaggy mane  and pale sunglasses. Only the graying of his lumberjack beard gives away the years that have passed.  Face after face  story after story  what quietly emerges is a living composite of a quintessential Midwestern community  told through the words and images of its residents--then and now. In a town where newcomers are recognized by the sound of an unfamiliar engine idle  The Oxford Project invites you to discover the unexpected details  the heartbreak  and the reality of lives lived on the fringe of our urban culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44959879331893,"sku":"ByrdShop_1599620480","price":28.54,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781599620480.jpg?v=1770377700","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-oxford-project","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}