During Robert Frank’s 10,000-mile journey across more than 30 states spanning nine months in 1955–1956, the young photographer took 767 rolls of film—more than 27,000 images—and made more than 1,000 work prints. He spent a year editing and selecting the photographs and constructing the sequence. When The Americans was published in 1958/1959, it revealed a country that many knew existed but few had acknowledged. Frank depicted a people often plagued by racism, ill-served by their politicians, and rendered numb by a rapidly rising culture of consumption. Yet he also found new areas of beauty in overlooked corners of the country and in the process helped redefine the icons of America.
The first edition of Robert Frank's The Americans was published in 