Our National Monuments: America’s Hidden Gems

Photographer Luong has comprehensively documented U.S. National Parks, resulting in a body of work that’s itself a landmark of landscape photography. Here, presented in gorgeous Cinerama-scale spreads, are 27 national monuments and reserves, created by 16 U.S. presidents under the Antiquities Act of 1906 (one of the Progressive Era’s most consequential legislative achievements). The book’s foreword, by former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, emphasizes preservation and denounces recent efforts to undermine protections, including a 2017 executive order that was the largest reduction of public lands in the nation’s history. Luong’s sublime photos speak for themselves, advocating stewardship by exposing ecological and cultural importance. The visual and natural variety of the National Parks is overwhelming, and he captures each place’s unique appeal. Among Luong’s subjects are the sinuous Missouri Breaks, the Katahdin Woods, the Carrizo Plain, the Vermilion Cliffs, and remote atolls designated as Marine National Monuments (these last expertly photographed by Ian Shive), each accompanied by essays from local activists.