Seeing Silicon Valley
Life inside a Fraying America
9780226786483
9780226786513
Seeing Silicon Valley
Life inside a Fraying America
Acclaimed photographer Mary Beth Meehan and Silicon Valley culture expert Fred Turner join forces to give us an unseen view of the heart of the tech world.
It’s hard to imagine a place more central to American mythology today than Silicon Valley. To outsiders, the region glitters with the promise of extraordinary wealth and innovation. But behind this image lies another Silicon Valley, one segregated by race, class, and nationality in complex and contradictory ways. Its beautiful landscape lies atop underground streams of pollutants left behind by decades of technological innovation, and while its billionaires live in compounds, surrounded by redwood trees and security fences, its service workers live in their cars.
With arresting photography and intimate stories, Seeing Silicon Valley makes this hidden world visible. Instead of young entrepreneurs striving for efficiency in minimalist corporate campuses, we see portraits of struggle—families displaced by an impossible real estate market, workers striving for a living wage, and communities harmed by environmental degradation. If the fate of Silicon Valley is the fate of America—as so many of its boosters claim—then this book gives us an unvarnished look into the future.
It’s hard to imagine a place more central to American mythology today than Silicon Valley. To outsiders, the region glitters with the promise of extraordinary wealth and innovation. But behind this image lies another Silicon Valley, one segregated by race, class, and nationality in complex and contradictory ways. Its beautiful landscape lies atop underground streams of pollutants left behind by decades of technological innovation, and while its billionaires live in compounds, surrounded by redwood trees and security fences, its service workers live in their cars.
With arresting photography and intimate stories, Seeing Silicon Valley makes this hidden world visible. Instead of young entrepreneurs striving for efficiency in minimalist corporate campuses, we see portraits of struggle—families displaced by an impossible real estate market, workers striving for a living wage, and communities harmed by environmental degradation. If the fate of Silicon Valley is the fate of America—as so many of its boosters claim—then this book gives us an unvarnished look into the future.
112 pages | 67 color plates | 10 x 7 | © 2021
Art: Photography
Sociology: General Sociology, Occupations, Professions, Work
Reviews
Table of Contents
The Valley on the Hill Fred Turner
Photographs and Stories Mary Beth Meehan
Cristobal
Ravi and Gouthami
Victor
Warren
Justyna
Teresa
Mary
Diane
Abraham and Brenda
Ariana and Elijah
Mark
Imelda
Richard
Leslie
Geraldine
Jolea
Melissa and Steve
Jon
Gee and Virginia
Branton and Shirley
Konstance
Aurora
Erfan
Ted
Elisa and Family
Elizabeth
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Photographs and Stories Mary Beth Meehan
Cristobal
Ravi and Gouthami
Victor
Warren
Justyna
Teresa
Mary
Diane
Abraham and Brenda
Ariana and Elijah
Mark
Imelda
Richard
Leslie
Geraldine
Jolea
Melissa and Steve
Jon
Gee and Virginia
Branton and Shirley
Konstance
Aurora
Erfan
Ted
Elisa and Family
Elizabeth
Afterword
Acknowledgments
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