Empire of Ruins: American Culture, Photography, and the Spectacle of Destruction

by Miles Orvell

Once symbols of the past, ruins have become ubiquitous signs of our future. Americans today encounter ruins in the media on a daily basis--images of abandoned factories and malls, toxic landscapes, devastating fires, hurricanes, and floods. In this sweeping study, Miles Orvell offers a new understanding of the spectacle of ruins in US culture, exploring how photographers, writers, painters, and filmmakers have responded to ruin and destruction, both...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0190491604
• ISBN13: 9780190491604
• Release Date: February 2021
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.9" x 10.1"