Publications with photographs and text by Plowden •
Farewell to Steam. Stephen Greene Press, 1966. • Bonanza Edition, 1968. •
Lincoln and His America. Viking, 1970. • Book-of-the-Month Club, 1971. Alternate selection. •
The Hand of Man on America. Smithsonian, 1971. • Paperback edition. Chatham, 1973. • Second printing. 1974. •
Floor of the Sky: The Great Plains. Sierra Club, 1972. •
Commonplace. E. P. Dutton, 1974. •
Bridges: The Spans of North America. Viking, 1974. • Macmillan Book Club, 1975. Alternate selection. • Reprinted edition, hardcover, New York City: W. W. Norton, 1984. • Reprinted edition, paperback, New York City: W. W. Norton, 1988. •
Tugboat. Macmillan, 1976. •
Steel. Viking, 1981. •
An American Chronology. Viking, 1982. With an introduction by David G. McCullough, •
Industrial Landscape. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1985, •
A Time of Trains. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1987, •
A Sense of Place. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1988, •
End of an Era: The Last of the Great Lakes Steamboats. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1992, •
Small Town America. Harry N. Abrams, 1994. With an introduction by David G. McCullough, •
Imprints: A Retrospective. Bulfinch, 1997. With an introduction by Alan Trachtenberg. •
Bridges: the Spans of North America. Revised Edition. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2002. •
David Plowden: The American Barn. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2003. •
A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2006. •
David Plowden: Vanishing Point: Fifty Years of Photography. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2007. With an introduction by Steve Edwards. •
Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2010. •
David Plowden’s Iowa. Humanities Iowa, 2012. •
Heartland: The Plains and The Prairie. New York City:
W.W. Norton, 2013.
Publications solely containing photographs by Plowden •
The Freeway in the City. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968. •
Wayne County: The Aesthetic Heritage of a Rural Area. Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1979. Commissioned by New York State Council for the Arts. •
The States and the Nations. New York City: W. W. Norton and the American Association for State and Local History, 1977–1981. New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont editions. •
A Place of Sense. University of Iowa, 1988.
Publications with photographs by Plowden and text co-authored with another •
Gems. Viking Press, 1967. •
America the Vanishing. Stephen Greene Press, 1969. •
Nantucket. Viking Press, 1970. Text by Plowden and Patricia Coffin. •
Cape May to Montauk. Viking Press, 1973. Text by Plowden and Nelson P. Falorp. •
Desert and Plain, the Mountains and the River. E.P. Dutton, 1975. Text by Plowden and
Berton Roueché. •
The Iron Road. Four Winds Press, 1978. Text by Plowden and with Richard Snow. ==Awards==