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Summer Beam Books
America the Abandoned: Captivating Portraits of Deserted Homes by Bryan Sansivero
America the Abandoned: Captivating Portraits of Deserted Homes by Bryan Sansivero
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America the Abandoned: Captivating Portraits of Deserted Homes by Bryan Sansivero
Publisher: Artisan Publishers
US SRP: $50.00 US
Binding: Hardcover
Street Date: October 14, 2025
Pub Date: October 14, 2025
Physical Info: 0.87" H x 11.29" L x 10.19" W (3.23 lbs) 224 pages
America is littered with abandoned homes, and all are subject to weather and natural decay. The furniture, decor, and personal belongings of the former inhabitants remain inside, even as ceilings cave in, mold grows, and dust settles. Photographer Bryan Sansivero has been uncovering these abandoned homes for more than a decade, traveling across the country to capture them on film before they crumble completely. The homes can be difficult to locate and traverse, and he's never sure what he might find. There are one of a kind relics, a tiger skin rug, a commemorative bicentennial piano, and a collection of mannequins, for example. But mostly, Sansivero documents the inhabitants' everyday living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms just as he found them, showcasing their unique furniture, clothing, books, appliances, toys, artwork, and other personal items, which often appear as if they were left just yesterday.
The stories of the former inhabitants remain mostly unknown, but the images are beautiful, haunting time capsules, and a reminder that everything we own is temporary, and eventually will be left behind or forgotten. There is also an element of mystery and eeriness that this imagery evokes. In addition to those who are entranced by beautiful coffee table books, Haunted America will be enticing for those who love horror films and books, from Stranger Things to The Shining".
Review Quotes:
Review Quotes:
" America the Abandoned captures an amorphous time between the past and the future at once frozen in time and ever-changing. Brian's vision of America is a place I want to curl up in and never leave."-- Elizabeth Finkelstein, founder of Cheap Old Houses
"Bryan Sansivero illuminates all the haunted beauty of America's deserted homes in his new book. He finds unsettled spirits among the ruin, all of which he photographs in sumptuous color. In short, his photographs manage to inhabit the souls of the people who once lived there."-- Laura Holson, writer, traveler, and founder of The Box Sessions
"The texture of ruin with the radiance of Technicolor. A classic in the urbex catalog."-- Dylan Thuras, cofounder of Atlas Obscura
"Unlike much so-called ruin porn--soulless images that glamorize the blight they showcase--Sansivero's photos bring out the humanity of the people who once occupied these buildings. . . . His photographs recall the eerie images of abandoned buildings in Chernobyl after the 1986 nuclear accident. But no cataclysmic disaster befell the houses in this book. Instead, what we see is the creeping decay of much of American life. Ghostly images of vacant homes, sensitively captured."-- Kirkus Reviews
"Even long-neglected spaces clearly suggest the shape of the lives they once contained. . . . Providing a few sentences beneath each photo, Sansivero frames each space as a time capsule of a person's past, simultaneously recognizing life's ephemerality and reminding readers to cherish the 'little things we hold so dear, and that they will come and go, like those of others before us.' Alternately moving, eerie, and dramatic, it's both a visual spectacle and a vibrant ode to forgotten lives."-- Publishers Weekly
