In Joel Sternfeld’s now classic view of America, a fireman shops for a pumpkin while a house burns in the background; a group of motorcyclists stop at the side of the road to take in a stunning, placid view of Bear Lake, Utah; the hi-tech world headquarters of the Manville Corporation sits in picturesque Colorado, obscured by a defiant boulder; a lone basketball net stands in the desert near Lake Powell in Arizona; and a cookie-cutter suburban housing settlement rests squarely amongst rolling hills in Pendleton, Oregon.
Originally published in 1987, Sternfeld’s American Prospects is a search for the truth of a country not just as it exists in a particular era but as it is in its every-evolving essence. It is a sad poem, yes, but also a funny and generous one, one that recognizes endurance, poignant beauty and determination within its sometimes tense, often ironic juxtapositions of man and nature, technology and ruin. Long out of print but always in demand, American Prospects, Sternfeld’s first published book of photographs, is here reprinted in a larger format and with new essays by Kerry Brougher, Andy Grundberg and Anne W. Tucker.