American Photography

Let Jamie Beck transport you to the South of France with An American in Provence: part art book, part travelogue, part memoir, and part cookbook, and perfect for art lovers, Francophiles, and armchair travelers alike.

With a combination of reverence and humor, Panther-Yates takes us on a tour of the Four Corners' world-renowned - and lesser known - ancient sites. Originally published in the Santa Fe Sun-News, these columns testify to New Mexico's undeniable power and mystery. In addition to the usual Native American dances, kiva mysteries and petroglyphs, the author introduces us to the offbeat spiritualities of the Muslim-like Penitentes of Abiquiu, Chimayo's santeros and a teaching coven of witches in Taos.

In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America's imagination. A "spirit photographer", William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation.

Niro is a photographer who’s lost the joy of taking photos. Burned by a bad break-up, she’s in desperate need of inspiration. Vimal is determined to win back his ex-girlfriend. When he hears she’s bringing her new boyfriend on a group holiday, he impulsively declares that he’s bringing a plus one too. Their mutual friends have the perfect solution: Niro can pretend to be Vimal’s new girlfriend and join the holiday. Imagine the incredible photographs she could take in the Swiss alps.