Acclaimed photographer Mary Beth Meehan and Silicon Valley culture
expert Fred Turner join forces to give us an unseen view of the heart
of the tech world.
It's hard to imagine
a place more central to American mythology today than Silicon Valley.
To outsiders, the region glitters with the promise of extraordinary
wealth and innovation. But behind this image lies another Silicon
Valley, one segregated by race, class, and nationality in complex and
contradictory ways. Its beautiful landscape lies atop underground
streams of pollutants left behind by decades of technological
innovation, and while its billionaires live in compounds, surrounded
by redwood trees and security fences, its service workers live in
their cars.
With arresting
photography and intimate stories, Seeing Silicon Valley makes
this hidden world visible. Instead of young entrepreneurs striving
for efficiency in minimalist corporate campuses, we see portraits of
struggle--families displaced by an impossible real estate market,
workers striving for a living wage, and communities harmed by
environmental degradation. If the fate of Silicon Valley is the fate
of America--as so many of its boosters claim--then this book gives us
an unvarnished look into the future.
