In 1968, Bill Owens started working as a photographer for the Livermore Independent, a local newspaper for the Livermore Amador Valley, a suburb of San Francisco. This job brought him into daily contact with hundreds of suburban families, whom he started photographing; his status as a member of this community enabled him to make photographs that did not pass judgement on his subjects but allowed them to speak for themselves while in the captions they talk about their homes and their lives. 'This book is about my friends and the world I live in,' Owens writes in his introduction. 'The photos in this book express the lives of the people I know. The comments on each photograph are what the people feel about themselves.'

First edition, slipcased edition bound in cloth; 4to (258 x 255 mm, 10¼ x 10 in); black-and-white photographs printed in offset; green cloth-covered boards, titles stamped on spine in white and on front in blind, minor rubbing to spine lettering, publisher's matching slipcase with wear to head and foot of spine, original sticker to rear, near-fine in a close to near-fine slipcase; [108]pp.

The Book of 101 Books pp224-5; The Open Book pp296-7; The Photobook A History, II p24.