Pie Town Revisited
The remote New Mexico community of Pie Town is famous for the photographs that Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee made there during the Great Depression. In this book author-photographer Arthur Drooker documents his own travels to Pie Town to find out what became of it seventy years after Lee visited.
Pie Town Revisited includes a dozen Russell Lee images and fifty-two images Drooker made that capture the soul of the place and its people today. In addition to these color photographs, Drooker’s essay describes his experience creating this unique historical record. The work is a portrait in words and pictures of the rugged individualists in this tight-knit community, recalling an America as it was and as it yearns to be again. Pie Town, as Drooker sees it, is indeed as American as apple pie.
This is a book that welcomes the reader with a sense of contentment.'—Albuquerque Journal
Drooker came to photograph ‘a slice of life’ as well as a slice of New Mexican apple pie. Do enjoy the real pies and ‘the pioneer spirit’ as it is presented to us in this visually pleasing revisit of a ‘not-so-typical’ dust bowl town!'—Denver Westerners Roundup
Pie Town Revisited is a portrait of America as it was and as it aspires to be.…Arthur imbues his photography with a sense of history and appreciation for culture.'—Lenscratch
Because these photographs remain key elements of the visual memory of the United States…Drooker’s book is of interest as a representative example of one means of making these photographs from the past matter in the present.
Arthur Drooker, whom I have known as a photographer only, has surprised and moved me with his incredible writing about Pie Town and its residents. His eloquence is astounding, and more than once I was moved to tears when reading his story.'--Ann Jastrab, director, Rayko Photo Center
Arthur Drooker is an award-winning photographer whose previous books include American Ruins and Lost Worlds: Ruins of the Americas. He lives in Mill Valley, California.
