In the winter of 1989, photographer Michael Galinsky began driving across the country to record the seismic change in America’s malls: their transformation from the shiny retail palaces of the ‘80s into something weirder. Then 20 years old, Galinsky began with the Smith Haven Mall in Long Island, and drove west: through Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota, Washington State. His photographs—collected in the book Malls Across America, published this month by Steidl—document a nation that had yet to turn against the mall, and saw its culture play out in the atriums of indoor retail palaces.

Photos from from Malls Across America by Michael Galinsky, published by Steidl, 2013. © Michael Galinsky, courtesy Steidl. www.steidl.de