Overview

Lost in America documents the life and death of America's architectural and historic treasures. The book is based on a remarkable archive created by the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), a Works Progress Administration project that still documents the nation's most important buildings. Lost in America focuses on 100 buildings that have been torn down over the past 90 years. Some―like New York's Penn Station and Chicago's Stock Exchange―were majestic. Others―like a tiny bridge in rural Montana and a small farmstead torn down for Denver's International Airport―were modest. But they all reflected America's story before they were razed. Using haunting black-and-white images by the nation's top architectural photographers, the book presents a timely look at what we've lost.

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9781733869058

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Reviews

Lost in America is about far more than the romance of ruins; it's about time and what America once was. It's the Wisconsin Death Trip of our built environment. --Thomas Dyja, author of New York, New York, New York and The Third Coast Great architecture is timeless--and this book, with its gorgeous photos and engaging text, proves it. American history lives and breathes and soars on these pages. --Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life and Ali: A Life Richard Cahan and Michael Williams have proven once again that they are masters in unlocking the stories that can be discovered in photographs. In Lost in America, what might have been an uneventful narrative about an obscure federal agency becomes a fascinating tale of the dynamic tension between America's push for urban growth and the desire to maintain the legacy of the past. --Robert Bruegmann, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art History, Architecture and Urban Planning Lost in America is a major work, an expert mixing of scholarship, striking photography and great storytelling. --Lynn Becker, architecture critic

"Lost in America is about far more than the romance of ruins; it's about time and what America once was. It's the Wisconsin Death Trip of our built environment. --Thomas Dyja, author of New York, New York, New York and The Third Coast Great architecture is timeless--and this book, with its gorgeous photos and engaging text, proves it. American history lives and breathes and soars on these pages. --Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life and Ali: A Life Richard Cahan and Michael Williams have proven once again that they are masters in unlocking the stories that can be discovered in photographs. In Lost in America, what might have been an uneventful narrative about an obscure federal agency becomes a fascinating tale of the dynamic tension between America's push for urban growth and the desire to maintain the legacy of the past. --Robert Bruegmann, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art History, Architecture and Urban Planning The Historic American Building Survey is just as weird as it sounds: the last, unlikely collaboration between esthetics and government at the exact moment America was really chewing itself to pieces. The pictures within document the final moments of an era when the outside world most directly reflected the dignity and complexity of the inside one -- containing the memories, emotions and lives of generations. If these images don't move you, then you don't have a heart. -- Chris Ware, author of Building Stories, and editor/designer of ""Louis Sullivan's Idea."" Lost in America is a major work, an expert mixing of scholarship, striking photography and great storytelling. --Lynn Becker, architecture critic"

Author Information

Richard Cahan is the author of twelve books including an acclaimed history of the federal court in Chicago, A Court That Shaped America. Cahan was the director of CITY 2000 and also served as the picture editor of the Chicago Sun-Times for 16 years.Michael Williams is a writer, designer, and publisher who has produced more than a twenty-five books. He is the coauthor of sixteen books, including River of Blood: American Slavery From the People Who Lived it, Chicago Exposed, Richard Nickel's Chicago, Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows, Barack Obama: Uncommon Grace, and Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

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