At the age of 17, STEPHEN SHORE (b. 1947) was a regular at Andy Warhol's Factory. By the age of 23 he became the first living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Shore is an unrivalled pioneer in his field, and his work has been exhibited in numerous museums worldwide and has influenced generations of photographers. In 1982 he was appointed Director of the Photography Program at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he is the Susan Weber Soros Professor in the Arts.

AMERICAN SURFACES is a highly influential body of work by a master photographer who helped establish colour photography as a legitimate medium of artistic expression. The book is comprised of a chronological sequence of photographs of vernacular America taken in the early 1970s, most of which are previously unpublished. These photographs have been widely exhibited and discussed throughout Europe and the United States. AMERICAN SURFACES is styled as a photo-diary of Shore's travels across America, bridging the gap between the road trip tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank and the fascination with the ordinary exhibited by Bernd and Hilla Becher and Martin Parr. This new paperback edition is a must-have for everyone interested in the history of twentieth-century photography, and it is perfect for art and photography students.