America's
Living History - The Early Years ,
by Suzanne & Craig Sheumaker
At first glance, this beautiful book looks
like it belongs on a coffee table. In fact, it would make a
great addition to any stack of large-sized page-turner picture
books, because the first thing that jumps out when you look
inside is the wealth of outstanding photographs. Color images
grace nearly every page, and all of them entice the reader to
delve into the prose that accompanies them.
Although America's Living
History is great for enjoying with your feet up on a footstool,
the book offers far more than armchair enjoyment. Excellent
maps and detailed information about historic sites and how
to visit them make this a valuable guidebook for discovering
about 300 destinations across the continent. From historic
homes in New Hampshire to petroglyphs in Hawaii, the destinations
reflect all the forces and peoples that shaped the evolution
of the United States.
The first chapter of the book
identifies all the sites and pinpoints them on both a map
of the United States and more detailed maps of the various
regions. Since the focus is pre-history to the early 1840s,
many of the destinations are in the east, but all areas are
represented. The rest of the book is organized by subject
into the following chapters:
- America's Native Peoples
- European Colonization
- Religious & Secular Groups
- Road to Independence
- Our New Nation
- Opening the West
|
The photographs may be the
incentive to open this book, but the text is every bit as
engaging. Presented in a fashion that both children and adults
can appreciate and enjoy, the historical background and descriptions
of the sites are both inspiring and practical. America's
Living History is a wonderful resource for planning a
road trip into the past, and it's a great virtual journey
in its own right.
Megan
Edwards
5/27/07
|
