From the foreword by historian Douglas Brinkley:
"The spirit harbored in these photographs, to my mind, is that, in the end, nature wins.
That is comforting. For that reason alone, I find Drooker’s vision as soothing as the cool
repetition of ocean waves. His art is a gift to Old Time America."

From the essay by Christopher Woodward:
"American Ruins is a photographic epic. No artist before Arthur Drooker has undertaken
such a journey to the ruins of the United States, from Hawaii to Florida and from the
Hudson River to New Mexico....To Arthur Drooker, ruin is not the end of the story of a
building but, rather, an episode in the cycle of the life, death, and reincarnation of great
buildings. His photographs preserve the beauty, hope, and complexity of that phase."

From the book jacket blurb by John Stauffer, Chair, History of American Civilization,
Harvard University and photography critic:
"Arthur Drooker's American Ruins is a brilliant visual meditation on our connection
with the past. His lucious infrared images of forgotten places offer a new spiritual vision
of America--one that unites past and present, endowing memory with epic presence and
power. Form perfectly complements content. The book is a stunning achievement."