《美国底层》提起美国，人们首先联想到的往往是曼哈顿光鲜亮丽的摩天大楼与硅谷引领潮流的前沿科技。这诚然是美国的写照，却并非全部。一位华尔街交易员出于对金融行业的愧疚，开始探索中心商务区以外的美国。在《美国底层》一书中，他用镜头和文字呈现出一个割裂而真实的美国社会图景，并对弥合阶层鸿沟做了有益的思考。
他意识到，他对比他的社交圈子里穷得多的众多美国人知之甚少。因此，在布朗克斯，他开始和人们攀谈，给他们拍照。他说自己遇到的情况并不像别人告诉他的那样，那里其实友好、温暖又美丽，并不空洞、危险而丑陋。就这样，他开始了长达24万公里、历时三年的穿越美国落后地域之旅。从缅因州的刘易斯顿到加利福尼亚州的贝克斯菲尔德，他走过城市和农村，黑人区和白人区，一路在许多地方停留。他将这段旅程写进了《美国底层》一书——一部深具同理心的作品。
作者
克里斯·阿纳德（ChrisArnade）是一位自由撰稿人和摄影师。他拥有约翰·霍普金斯大学的物理学博士学位。在2012年离开布朗克斯区之前，他在华尔街担任了二十年的交易员。《美国底层》是他的首部作品。
译者
许楠，单向街公益基金会创办人，“水手计划”发起人。
When people think of the United States, they usually think of the shiny skyscrapers of Manhattan and the cutting-edge technology of Silicon Valley. This is true of America, but it is not the whole story. A Wall Street trader, feeling guilty about the financial industry, begins to explore America beyond central business districts. In The book, The Bottom of America, he presents a fragmented and real picture of American society with the lens and text, and makes useful reflections on bridging the class gap.
He realized how little he knew compared to the many Americans in his social circle who were much poorer. So in the Bronx, he started talking to people and photographing them. He said his situation was not what he had been told. It was friendly, warm and beautiful, not empty, dangerous and ugly. In this way, he began a 240,000-kilometer, three-year journey through the backwardness of the United States. From Lewiston, Maine, to Bakersfield, California, he traveled through urban and rural, black and white areas, stopping at many places along the way. He wrote about his journey in The American Underground-a deeply empathetic work.
author
ChrisArnade is a freelance writer and photographer. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University. He spent two decades as a trader on Wall Street before leaving the Bronx in 2012. "American Bottom" is his first work.
translator
Xu Nan, founder of One Way Street Charity Foundation, initiator of "Sailor Project".
