A photographic history of America by National Geographic

For over 100 years National Geographic magazine has employed a team of staff photographers and documented the world through breathtaking photography, giving an unrivalled insight into all the pockets of the land. As the magazine’s home country, the USA has been well documented by National Geographic and in a new book published by Taschen, its archives are unravelled in a state-by-state tour of the land of the free. 

The impressive 964-page volume brings together over 700 images to chart “a century of change and growth from Alabama to Wyoming”. The book is a follow-on from Taschen’s previous tome, National Geographic: Around the World in 125 Years, yet this focus on one place and its history is a powerful document. 

A diverse and vast portrait is painted of America as snowy landscapes contrast with desert wastelands and rural environments become bustling metropolises. Across the glossy pages, photography’s evolution is unintentionally depicted as we glide from the black and white images of the 1920s and 30s, skating through mid-century Kodachrome and the reportage style of the 70s and 80s, and landing in the digital images of the 90s to the present day.

National Geographic, The United States of America is a celebration not just of the magazine’s excellent and timeless photography but also the people, history and wonder of America.