Where will you go when the trouble starts? For countless people the answer is the bomb shelter in the basement. In fact, people around the world have been building shelters to protect themselves from man-made catastrophes for centuries. Waiting for the End of the World is photographer Richard Ross’s journey into this quirky somewhat paranoid, and often hauntingly beautiful underground world. Ross has documented not only the bomb shelters of the United States, but also examples from Russia; England; China; Vietnam; and Switzerland, where every citizen is required by law to have a shelter.

With an interview by Sarah Vowell.

Published in 2004 by Princeton Architectural Press.

Where will you go when the trouble starts? For countless people the answer is the bomb shelter in the basement. In fact, people around the world have been building shelters to protect themselves from man-made catastrophes for centuries. Waiting for the End of the World is photographer Richard Ross’s journey into this quirky somewhat paranoid, and often hauntingly beautiful underground world. Ross has documented not only the bomb shelters of the United States, but also examples from Russia; England; China; Vietnam; and Switzerland, where every citizen is required by law to have a shelter.

With an interview by Sarah Vowell.

Published in 2004 by Princeton Architectural Press.