In 1938, the Museum of Modern Art staged an exhibition of Evans' photographs, the first exhibition at the museum to be devoted to the work of a single photographer. Evans worked closely with Lincoln Kirstein on the edit and sequence of the photographs, both for the exhibition and in the accompanying book American Photographs, for which Kirstein also provided the essay. Kirstein writes, 'In Evans's pictures of temples or shelters the presence or absence of the people who created them is the most important thing… The structures are social rather than artistic monuments. The photographs are social documents!'

Evans and Kirstein divided the book into two thoughtfully sequenced sections. The first shows American citizens, or their representations, alone, in groups, and often within the context of their built environments. The second shows these environments and comprises the 'streets and storefronts, homes and graveyards, industrial plants and roadside stands [that] are frozen in time, many of them in a permanent state of decay.'

First edition; 4to (222 x 199 mm, 8¾ x 7¾ in); black-and-white photographs printed in relief halftone by The Spiral Press, New York from plates made by Beck Engraving Company; cream endpapers, black cloth-covered boards, border in blind, printed title-label mounted on spine, minor scratch, printed dust-jacket, grey with text in black, minor toning and small chip to spine, light marking to edges, errata slip tipped on to copyright page, without the band, fine in a near-fine dust-jacket; [ii], 198, [8]pp.

Regards à travers Le Livre 69; The Book of 101 Books pp98-9; The Open Book pp128-9; The Photobook: A History I, pp.114-5