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The Americans

Buy new: $39.95 $22.76 Buy used: $20.95

Editorial Reviews

In 1958, the first edition of Robert Frank's The Americans was published in Paris. Les Américains contained Frank's 83 photographs in the same sequence as all subsequent editions, with the image on the right hand page, but juxtaposed with historical texts about American society and politics, gathered by Alain Bosquet. The following year, in the first American edition, the French texts were removed and an introduction by Jack Kerouac was added. Over the subsequent 50 years, The Americans has been republished in many editions, in numerous languages, with a variety of cover designs, and even in a range of sizes. It is the most famous photography book ever published, and it changed the face of the medium forever.
Robert Frank discussed with his publisher, Gerhard Steidl, the idea of producing a new edition using modern scanning and the finest tritone printing. The starting point was to bring original prints from New York to Göttingen, Germany, where Steidl is based.
In July 2007, Frank visited Göttingen. A new format for the book was worked out and new typography selected. A new cover was designed and Frank chose the book cloth, foil for embossing, and the endpaper. Most significantly, as he has done for every edition of The Americans, Frank changed the cropping of many of the photographs, usually including more information. Two images were changed completely from the original 1958 and 1959 editions.

Customer Reviews

America Post WWII, 2009-11-17
by Roger W. Brown Jr. (San Diego, Ca United States)

This collection of photos didn't attract much attention when first published. Some believed race issues were a problem. Don't think so. I graduated from college during this period. The photos then would have been ordinary scenes in black and white during a period when most photos were color. The collection captures the time nicely. One of the photos is misidentified as to place. Several others have explanations different from my assessment. It isn't about the narrative and black and white makes the subjects stand out. There is a newspaper stand in one of the photos. Who is on the cover of Look?

America in the 1950s, 2009-10-29
by D. Wollrich

Robert Frank's pictures of America in the 1950s are comparable in depth and perceptiveness to Dorothea Lange's pictures of the 1930s. They are in black and white and call you back to look at them again and again. Composition is excellent. I had not heard of Robert Frank until recently. His photographic work, however, is excellent.

Outstanding, but small trim size & beware of thieves overcharging!, 2009-09-29
by H. Sansom (Brooklyn, NY USA)

This is an outstanding collection of photographs. The drawbacks: The book's trim size (height & width) is surprisingly small for a collection of photographs. And WATCH OUT -- for some reason, there are real con artists charging $150 and more even though this book can be bought NEW for less than $40.

Frank found what he was looking for, 2009-06-29
by Robert Burnham (Hales Corners, Wisconsin USA)

I'm not as impressed with this book as most critics are. Frank traveled around the U.S. and photographed pretty much what he was looking for: visual proof that Americans and their culture are crass, materialist, full of prejudice, and vulgar.

This view has been a commonplace conceit of European artists and intellectuals, and it began even before the colonies had united to become the United States. It was a message that was sure to win him applause from Europeans and also from that portion of the American intelligentsia who take European judgements as final.

I think Frank's photos are highly overrated and took little insight or understanding to create. They reflect mostly a typical European viewpoint and show almost no understanding of what this country and its people are really about.

Inspiring, 2009-05-27
by Dean

Robert Frank changed the world of photography with this collection of work. I think every young photographer should own and study this book.