America By Another Name: Photos and Stories of the Road and a History that United Us emphatically gathers into one book photos and stories of this nation’s diversity—showing lives from across regions, social classes, religions, gender and sexual identities, and races and ethnicities.
It’s a modern portrait of our land as seen through an antique lens—the name Columbia.
This name is a perfect symbol for the United States itself: it’s steeped in idealism, while also freighted by its roots in Columbus and European empire building.
Columbia = United States
Poets, songwriters, and orators forged Columbia into:
- Our nation’s poetic nickname, and a symbol for the American ideals of liberty, union, and progress.
- A liberty goddess named Lady Columbia (created in 1775 by African American poet Phillis Wheatley).
- National anthems like “Hail, Columbia” and “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean.”
Roadtrips—Writings—Photographs
- From Maine to Hawaii, from Alaska to Florida, I’ve driven some 160,000 miles while living in a DIY camper van and photographed in over 65 places named Columbia.
- Captions and short essays tell stories of the road, and Columbia-related histories portray the good and the bad of our development—even as perpetrated by my direct ancestors.
- By presenting all subjects equitably, these color photographic portraits and landscapes evince the spirit of equality proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.
Learn More: https://www.americabyanothername.com/