{"product_id":"photographs-from-detroit-1975-2019-paperback","title":"Photographs from Detroit, 1975-2019 - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBruce Harkness\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJohn J. Bukowczyk\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA retrospective survey of Bruce Harkness's striking social documentary photographs and an invaluable historical record that bears witness to irrevocably lost swaths of Detroit's social and urban fabric.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1980, the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan, exercised eminent domain to develop nearly five hundred acres of land for a new industrial park and General Motors assembly plant. But the land was not vacant. Some thirty-five hundred people lived there in Poletown--some of them for their entire lives. They attended neighborhood schools and churches, worked for and patronized small businesses, walked the sidewalks, drove the streets, and tended to lawns and gardens. Harkness began photographing the area in February 1981. He recorded street scenes, intersections, panoramic views, homes, businesses, churches, and people. Ten months, ninety visits, and six hundred photographs later, it all disappeared forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Poletown series established Harkness as a major Detroit documentarian. It came on the heels of late-1970s projects located in and around the city's skid row: Cass Corridor. The images include gritty streetscapes, a portrait series depicting residents living in a crumbling apartment building, and the lively cultural milieu of a local gay and transgender bar. Most of this old portion of inner-city Detroit since has been supplanted by urban redevelopment and gentrification.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the late 1980s, Harkness collaborated with urban historian John J. Bukowczyk on a major documentary project, \u003ci\u003eUrban Interiors\u003c\/i\u003e. While the Poletown project had documented the exteriors of buildings and streetscapes on Detroit's East Side, \u003ci\u003eUrban Interiors\u003c\/i\u003e captured the insides of inner-city Detroit homes and businesses and included extended oral history interviews.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Harkness has always found human dignity and resilience in his subjects, the tone of his work brightened in the 1990s alongside Detroit's revival. Photographs from this era include blues musicians performing in clubs and at outdoor concerts and the distinctive, robust youth culture that flourished in Dearborn's now-defunct Zone Coffee House.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeaturing images from these and other projects, \u003ci\u003ePhotographs from Detroit, 1975-2019\u003c\/i\u003e includes Harkness's extensive notes, which describe and contextualize the encounters he shared with the people and places he photographed, and offer insight into his working methods and equipment. The volume and quality of Harkness's work merits him recognition as one of Detroit's most important documentary photographers during this pivotal, transitional era in the city's history. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarkness's images depict the struggles and resilience of ordinary individuals and families in working-class communities who together have indelibly shaped the spirit of Detroit. This book is a must-have for Detroiters past and present as well as historians, anthropologists, social documentary advocates, and photobook collectors everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBruce Harkness\u003c\/b\u003e holds an MFA from Wayne State University and is the former city photographer of Dearborn, Michigan. His photographs have been published in \u003ci\u003eDetroit Images: Photographs of the Renaissance City\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eArab Detroit: From Margin to Mainstream\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBefore Fair Lane: Historic Houses from Henry Ford's Hometown, Dearborn, Michigan (1832-1916)\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as in the \u003ci\u003eDetroit Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e. The Bruce L. Harkness Poletown collection of prints and digital images is housed in the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University. Historians, filmmakers, and urban planners often use Harkness's photographs as valuable reference material.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn J. Bukowczyk\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of history at Wayne State University, the author of numerous articles and books on immigration and ethnic history, series editor for the Polish and Polish-American Studies series from Ohio University Press, and coeditor of \u003ci\u003eDetroit Images: Photographs of the Renaissance City\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 200\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8.9 x 11.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 20, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51766805365024,"sku":"9780804012386","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/0c2a103652bfce439be27a1e15deccaa.webp?v=1780299352","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/photographs-from-detroit-1975-2019-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}