Report to the Shareholders

Dispatches from today’s Rust Belt tell of a region long neglected by business and bureaucracy

The Rust Belt of America provided the manpower and factories that formed the backbone of American manufacturing, which became a juggernaut of the 20th century. When conditions changed, companies quietly left. Continuing in the decades-long tradition of coverage of Rust Belt communities, American photographer Ken Light (born 1951) turned his lens on this region. The images in this book show the vestiges of the industrial past: abandoned factories, decaying infrastructure and disused machinery. The cities that Light visited are a testament to vanishing economic opportunities. Citizens feel abandoned and angered by the political system and left behind by a business class that offshored the production of goods and forsook them without a second thought. Report to the Shareholders weaves the proud heritage of blue-collar communities into this saga alongside striking historical ephemera that brings the present of the black-and-white images into high relief.