Every photographer should have this in their library - Rated 
What a great idea, re-release an out of print book which in its original form costs hundreds of pounds and make it assessable to the multitudes.
I love the images in this book and I am so pleased it has been republished at a reasonable price. This ranks up there with books by Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Bailey and Ansel Adams, each of whom have or had their own style but this book and its images stand out and proven how good Robert Frank was as a photographer.
When this was first published there was uproar in that The Americans showed Americans how they were in society and it caused anger in some areas. this wasn't a sugar coating of Americans but the real thing. Even, Walker Evans said that this book and Franks images had "a bracing, almost stinging manner" . If you get this book you will identify with that description. The only photographer of social photography who gets close in the States is William Klein, who too shot his images close up and very personal.
If you want to see great timeless images, or to start collecting iconic photographic volumes then this is a great place to start.
Every photographer's library should have a copy... - Rated
...but only now is it affordable again.
I've probably seen every photograph in this book a number of times over the years. That fact in no way lessens its impact.
Fortunately re-published while Frank is still around to give it his blessing, this new Steidl edition shows the pictures pretty much in their original context, even Jack Kerouac's intro is there in full. Although I've never handled an original 1950s edition, I would imagine that the printing quality then could not have matched this, if indeed it even managed to approach it. It's not the finest you can achieve - at this price how could it be - but it's certainly fine enough.
I've seen some of the photographs on gallery walls and they really don't have the same impact as they do on the printed page. It's the narrative, the sequencing, that draws you into Frank's vision of mid-twentieth century America. That said, there's barely an image here that does not stand on its own as a iconic reference to the style of photography that he initiated.
For me, this book is on a par with Bill Brandt's 'Shadow of Light', or Tony Ray-Jones' 'A Day Off', as a collection that I can return to again and again and still derive an enormous amount of visual and mental stimulation.
Classic - Rated
This books is a classic. Interestingly another publisher, Damiani, recently published a sort of alternative version called 'Americans' with photographs by contemporary American photographers such as Ed Templeton, Richard Avedon, Larry Clark, Diane Arbus, Ryan McGinley, Burk Uzzle, Gordon Parks, Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander and Nan Goldin. An interesting book about a fascinating subject at a key moment in history.
Awe Inspiring - Rated
These photographs are an honest, untainted view of America through the eyes of a foreigner. The greatest accomplishment of Frank is not that he has gone to a country and poked gentle fun at the culture or ridiucled ways he doesn't understand. He has captured photographs showing the true America of the time, segragation, poverty, narrative, intrigue. It's all there.
I was first guided to this book by a Screencraft book about cinematography where one of the interviewed cinematographers cited The Americans as a major influence, when on set he lets the book fall open and allows the image to wash over and inspire him.
True enough, so many classic images, the hungover guy at the jukebox. burnt out highlights streaming through the bar door. Your eye keeps going back to the door, expecting it to open. The black nanny with the pale white baby, the middle aged guy in the restaurant/bar, flanked by two huge cohorts. He is barely visible between their distorted, bulky torsos.
I can't believe this book is no longer in print either, what's that all about. If you see a copy, grab it and hold on. It is absoulutely essential for the keen amateur or pro photographer.
Highly recommended.
PHOTOGRAPHER BIBLE - Rated
After 19 years of working as a pro photographer, I was simply stunted, wordless and sad, because not having a pearle like this in my library. Simply-PERFECT!!!
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