While we lived in Detroit, in 1981, I extensively photographed the Michigan State Fair (the only state fair in the U.S. that takes place in a major city).

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That same year a friend gave me a copy of the 1952 N.Y. State Civil Defense Manual. They had found it in the basement "fallout shelter" of an old apartment building.

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It struck me that both the hucksters at the state fair and the writers of the Civil Defense manual were trying to sell me something - something that I might regret buying. I paired sections of the text with selected photographs of the fair and called the series "Caveat Emptor."

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A progressive newspaper in Oberlin Ohio (the Local Paper) published the series as a booklet (not of fine-art quality). In 2021 I remade the booklet with higher quality materials and better reproductions. It is available for purchase - please see the Book Works tab.