The Americans

New York: Aperture, 1978.

Third edition, following those of 1958 and 1969, with an introduction by Jack Kerouac. A superb and weird collection of Frank's unusual photographs taken on a road trip around America between 1955-56 at the wheel of a second-hand sedan. He shows us life in the streets and in the bars of such backwaters as Butte, Montana and Elizabethville, North Carolina. 83 b/w photographs in all, each one with descriptive caption. In the excellent dust-jacket. A Fine copy. One of the most iconic photo books, first published in 1958, Frank set out on a 10,000-mile road trip, capturing his subjects with a poetic and critical eye. His work unveiled facets of American life that had previously gone unremarked, confronting its audience with the superficial allure of Hollywood or an underbelly of racial inequality and injustice. Taken as a whole, The Americans captures the aspirations and the stark reality of the American dream