Vanishing America

the long version

"Think of the quirky buildings you pass all the time but whose quiet beauty you take for granted - the moviehouses, juke joints, soda fountains, barbershops, storefront churches. You don't miss them until they're gone. As suburban sprawl and strip malls conquer the country, these vestiges of a lost way of life are increasingly falling under the wrecking ball. Here the photographer Michael Eastman has made the ultimate roadtrip, crisscrossing the nation dozens of times, to capture these buildings before they disappear. A catalogue of great everyday American architecture and design, Vanishing America also offers a provocative portrait of the silent emptiness that has descended upon struggling small communities everywhere."--BOOK JACKET.