American Prospects By Joel Sternfeld

Originally published in 1987, Joel Sternfeld’s now-classic book American Prospects (Steidl, ISBN 978-3-88243-915-1, $94.95) is here remastered, redesigned, and reprinted at a larger, brighter, truer scale. The publisher writes: “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.”

A specially-commissioned essay by Kerry Brougher, Chief Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, considers the historical context in which Sternfeld was working and the pivotal role that American Prospects has played in the course of contemporary filmmaking and art photography. ❚