Text engl. - Das Buch erhielt eine Prämierung beim Wettbewerb “Die schönsten deutschen Bücher 2003” der Stiftung Buchkunst. - [Text at Schaden.com:] Paul Graham's photographs touch upon the social fracture of America - the grat divide - between included and excluded, white and black, have and have-not. It is a simple topic, shunned these days or only dealt with in cliched photo-journalism. American Night embraces this neglected territory in a series of shocking mages wich lodge firmly in our conciousness as they negotiate the boundaries of art and document. The majority of the images are high key photographs which give the feeling of stepping out of a sheltered place into bright sunlight, temporarily blending the viewer with an overwhelming whiteness. Drained of colour, shadow and form, they resonate with the lives of those they portray in the bleached landscape.