The new American ghetto

by Camilo J. Vergara

The New American Ghetto provides an exploration, over nearly two decades, of ghettos in New York, Newark, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and smaller cities. Camilo Jose Vergara chronicles, through photographs and text, the profound transformations experienced by these places since the riots of the 1960s. He provides direct observations of urban landscapes and interiors, from residential areas and institutions to vacant lots and abandoned factories. He takes successive photographs of the same places, tracking change over time - changes that have made the conditions of today's ghettos very different from those of an earlier era. Vergara's interviews with residents and historical research contribute to his unique view of the nature and meaning of the inner city. Termed "a photographic forecast of the demise of urban America," The New American Ghetto brings to light a world of forgotten ruin and struggling reconstruction.