Overheard in America

By Judith Henry

The author of the irresistible Overheard series eavesdrops across America, catching enticing slivers of conversations ranging from the hilarious to the heartrending.

Imagine you're riding in a crowded elevator in New York City and overhear two young women talking: "Her personality makes her prettier." Or perhaps you're on the beach in Miami when the man beside you confesses: "It would have been a completely different life." Maybe you're lunching in Chicago when the lady at the next table declares: "I don't have a cold. This is the way I look without makeup!" If you're fascinated and intrigued, you're not alone. With an unassuming camera and countless notepads, artist Judith Henry has documented the hopes, fears, and real emotions that make Americans tick.

Henry has been using overheard sentences and photographs in her art since 1979. The author of Overheard at the Museum and Overheard While Shopping has now traveled cross-country to assemble Overheard in America, featuring more insights and eye-openers by anonymous people from all walks of life. Henry has always been a voyeur and an eavesdropper, hearing firsthand the praises, complaints, joys, and heartaches of real-life people. In her observations -- from Los Angeles to Chicago, from Miami to New York, and places in-between -- she's heard Americans' daily quarrels and hard-earned wisdom. On the beach or at restaurants, riding the train or dancing at bars, Americans have unknowingly shared their most beguiling and basic truths. Startlingly funny and starkly honest, Overheard in America captures the wonderful essence of our daily lives, offering a coolly unaltered portrait of America today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Release date: Oct 24, 2006
• ISBN: 9780743298568

Judith Henry

Judith Henry's art has been exhibited internationally in New York, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and London, among other places. She also designed works for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1997, her book, Anonymous True Stories, was published. She also has authored Overheard at the Museum, Overheard While Shopping, Overheard in Love, and Overheard at the Bookstore. She lives in New York City.

Book preview

Introduction

Her personality makes her prettier. I heard that sentence in a crowded elevator shortly after moving to New York. I paused and repeated the sentence to myself. I liked both the sound of the words and the sentiment, so I reached in my bag for a pen and paper while repeating the sentence over and over as a mantra. I often repeat a sentence until I am able to record it: I’m thirty fuckin’ years old already, ya know. I’m thirty fuckin’ years old already, ya know. I’m thirty fuckin’ years old already, ya know.

I’ve been called an eavesdropper, but I don’t listen in on entire conversations. What I find interesting is sentences taken out of context. I heard in a Japanese restaurant: Did I tell you about the time my boss bit me? And while standing on the platform waiting for my train, I heard the man next to me declare, Just think what I could have done without her!

I grew up in suburban Ohio and moved to New York City as soon as I finished college. The chaos and diversity of the city thrills me and I don’t go anywhere without a notebook, pen, and camera. In this city, there are no secrets: I often hear the most intimate and personal information on a crowded subway, elevator, or street corner while waiting for the light