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Summary: Haunting Account of Post-Industrial Urban America
Review: Anyone interested in the health of our older industrial cities must read this book. The photographs are truly riveting, and the text really sounds like an account of an extinct civilization. The repeat photographs of the same cityscapes over several years' time are particularly captivating, and usually saddening. Mr. Vergara's focus on Detroit is also fascinating, although I can't say that I agree with his proposed solution for downtown Detroit's woes. I'm looking forward to buying Mr. Vergara's "American Ruins," a more recent work.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting Account of Post-Industrial Urban America
Review: Anyone interested in the health of our older industrial cities must read this book. The photographs are truly riveting, and the text really sounds like an account of an extinct civilization. The repeat photographs of the same cityscapes over several years' time are particularly captivating, and usually saddening. Mr. Vergara's focus on Detroit is also fascinating, although I can't say that I agree with his proposed solution for downtown Detroit's woes. I'm looking forward to buying Mr. Vergara's "American Ruins," a more recent work.
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Summary: Have you read The Fountainhead ? Now read this !!
Review: Every architecture student should read this book. It touches & inspires the soul. There are ghettos in EVERY COUNTRY. This book explains how they come to exist in the United States and gives a few clues as to how these blighted areas can be rejuvenated. The pictures speak volumes but the text provides invaluable insight.
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Summary: amazing photography
Review: Like many of the other reviewers, I was moved by the pictures - especially the more deserted, rural-looking streetscapes. The text (except for his suggestion that downtown Detroit be turned into a national park) doesn't really add that much to the photography.
Rating:
Summary: amazing photography
Review: Like many of the other reviewers, I was moved by the pictures - especially the more deserted, rural-looking streetscapes. The text (except for his suggestion that downtown Detroit be turned into a national park) doesn't really add that much to the photography.
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Summary: a humane and compelling view of something we want to ignore
Review: Slums and ghettos are places that most Americans would care to ignore, but Vergara documents these marginalized "communities" with a personal sincerity and social awareness not often found in this field of study. Those who are involved in bringing back to life the urban cores of American cities would be well-advised to study this book and ponder deeply the author's conclusions. I bought this book today, on a whim, and read it in one sitting. I could not put it down. I'd like to see more works by Mr. Vergara.
Rating:
Summary: a humane and compelling view of something we want to ignore
Review: Slums and ghettos are places that most Americans would care to ignore, but Vergara documents these marginalized "communities" with a personal sincerity and social awareness not often found in this field of study. Those who are involved in bringing back to life the urban cores of American cities would be well-advised to study this book and ponder deeply the author's conclusions. I bought this book today, on a whim, and read it in one sitting. I could not put it down. I'd like to see more works by Mr. Vergara.
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Summary: Life in places unexpected...
Review: The photographs in this book are gripping. While the narrative is interesting regarding the sociology of the rise (and fall) of the ghetto in several American cities, what is most stunning about this book, perhaps obviously, are the photographs.How many of us have driven by abandoned or decaying buildings and have either reminisced or have wondered about its history? I think most of us have experienced this. Vergara has captured those moments on film. Yet his interests and the style of his photographs reveal life bursting, or seeping, from behind the apparent emptiness and abandonment. Snippets of conversations or ponderings from those who live in the neighborhoods photographed and quotes from various 'experts' give a framework through which the photographs reveal what is behind the facade. Graffiti reveals insight and inspiration. And there are various characters outside of the mainstream who find meaning and life in what those who have abandoned these buildings called 'decay'. An intinerant preacher, a modern day Noah and her ark and a whole host of other individuals reveal to us that no matter what it looks like on the outside, there is a spark in all of us that hopes and dreams and envisions a better tomorrow. This book succeeds on many levels, a sociological level, a picturesque level, a historical level and, most important in my opinion, a human level. It's a book you can peruse over and over again and find something new with each visit.
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Summary: amazing
Review: This is a book of great patience and love. The core consists of photos taken of buildings in various urban ghettos over the course of ten years. Vargas lays three and four photos out (of the same building or area) across two pages to document decline, or sometimes, development. There are also chapters that focus on the way in which households, stores, and churches have fortified like prisons to protect the people and things inside. Other sections concentrate on self-expression, mostly in the form of elaborate murals that speak of fear, poverty, violence, descent into drugs, friends and family lost to gunplay, or defiant spirituality. The book is beautiful. The reader is shown all aspects of ghetto life, from the gray sad sprawl of death and danger to the color and vitality of the people who live there and struggle to achieve positivity. One beef: Vargas' text observations to accompany the photos are superflous and simple to a fault. It is better to read books like The Corner or Third and Indiana, among others, as a companion to this. But that is small criticism about the text. Vargas is a photo essayist, and his photos are ten-year labors of love that document the erosion (and occasional refurbishing) of these parts of our biggest cities that remind one more of third-world countries than our own. This book should be handed out to those in power who turn their backs on this country's ghettos, which will crawl everywhere like glaciers if folks don't turn their attention to them. This is an amazing book.
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Summary: Excellent pictorial catalog of inner city decay and rebirth
Review: This is an excellent book for high school students living in the inner city. We have incorporated this book as part of our curriculum in the Urban Design Studio Project, which is a after school program that introduces high school students living inthe South Bronx to careers in urban planning and architectural studies. Although much has changed in the South Bronx, we still suffer the stigma of a ghetto I believe a second book is in order to show the major changes which have occured since the books publication. There is hope and people by far have improved their living and social economic conditions.
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