From the trembling walls, it's a great idea

I just got a copy of Detroit Disassembled, Andrew Moore's incredible book of large-format photography that captures both the decay and abandoned stillness of the Detroit area and the persistent way in which nature slowly creeps back to reclaim its turf.



No longer the Motor City of boom-time industry, the city of Detroit has fallen into an incredible state of dilapidation since the decline of the American auto industry after the Second World War. Today, whole sections of the city resemble a war zone, its once-spectacular architectural grandeur reduced to vacant ruins. In Detroit Disassembled, photographer Andrew Moore records a territory in which the ordinary flow of time-or the forward march of the assembly line-appears to have been thrown spectacularly into reverse.



A lifelong Midwesterner (so far), I've always been a little bit fascinated by my neighbor to the north. When I was little, we used to take trips up to the Indiana dunes and long, lazy vacations in Mackinaw. I'm heading up to Michigan a bit more these days for work and have spoken to people who grew up in Detroit.



They tell me unbelievable things, like how it's not uncommon for a city block to have one remaining house standing. And how pheasants and other wild animals roam the streets because there aren't any cars to mow them down.



The decay is shocking and somehow beautiful.


Salvador Dali called. He wants to know what time it is.

I've not yet ventured in to Detroit proper. I think I'd like to sometime soon.