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A review by lillimoore
Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind by Seph Lawless
3.0
I found my way to this book through a newly developed interest in liminal spaces and dead malls developed through the subreddit r/deadmalls. It started off very strong with a blurb about the first mall featured in the book by Yvette Nicole Brown (who doesn't love her? That's nice!) that led me to believe each mall would have a similar story to go along with it. That would have made the book a bit more interesting in my opinion, but I still enjoyed surveying the photos of decay.
Having worked in several malls for a good chunk of my college years, I live that nostalgia for mall life often. It is bizarre to me now as I age and develop more and more anti-capitalist sentiments and beliefs that we as a society built these temples of capitalism that were to serve as the hub of our communities as main streets across the country disappeared or became something unrecognizable entirely, without ever stopping to consider the ramifications of resource utilization, land use, and the inevitable evolution of consumerism. I suppose maybe it didn't seem inevitable to people who couldn't have conceptualized the digital age would become what it is today, but catalogues existed prior to shopping malls, so was it really out of the question that a catalogue system may once again overtake physical shopping? Malls are just a good example of the American tendency to consider only the here and now, and not observe what worked well in the past that may bridge to a better future.
In any event, malls are crumbling and decaying, and it's generally symbolic, and that symbolism is well-documented in this coffee table book. Definitely worth a flip through if this type of content is of interest to you.
Having worked in several malls for a good chunk of my college years, I live that nostalgia for mall life often. It is bizarre to me now as I age and develop more and more anti-capitalist sentiments and beliefs that we as a society built these temples of capitalism that were to serve as the hub of our communities as main streets across the country disappeared or became something unrecognizable entirely, without ever stopping to consider the ramifications of resource utilization, land use, and the inevitable evolution of consumerism. I suppose maybe it didn't seem inevitable to people who couldn't have conceptualized the digital age would become what it is today, but catalogues existed prior to shopping malls, so was it really out of the question that a catalogue system may once again overtake physical shopping? Malls are just a good example of the American tendency to consider only the here and now, and not observe what worked well in the past that may bridge to a better future.
In any event, malls are crumbling and decaying, and it's generally symbolic, and that symbolism is well-documented in this coffee table book. Definitely worth a flip through if this type of content is of interest to you.