Detroit: America's Pripyat

In 1986, a reactor explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former U.S.S.R. resulted in the abandonment of Pripyat, a nearby city of 50,000 residents. A generation later, the city remains a ghost town. It is filled with the trappings of everyday lives that ended suddenly with the sound of a policeman's warning, a hastily packed suitcase and a bus trip into a new world. Our nation has a similar city: Detroit. Although it is much larger - half its size 50 years ago - and suffering a slow death, the city remains filled with the decaying architecture and material culture of its once-great past. It is America's Pripyat. Several photographers and civic activists have documented this sad story over many years through a variety of websites. Now, two French photographers have interpreted this story through some remarkable images. See their work here. One of my must-read blogs, Dr. Sanity, provided this link as well as some appropriate comment.

As a man with roots in the Appalachian Rust Belt, I am affected deeply by reading stories and studying images of such decline, abandonment, and displacement. We Americans have a history of overcoming great hardships. Let's see that history repeat itself.