A Guide to Newport's Cliff Walk: Tales of Seaside Mansions and the Gilded Age Elite Book

Filled with really interesting tidbits, this book is unfortunately written exactly how a tour guide would present a wandering narrative as you followed him/her through the streets of Newport. Thwre are even comments like, "Don't touch the shiny green plants because they might be poison ivy,'" and "Some of you might like to take a seat on these benches, but look out for that swarm of bees." While that might sound charming, it ends up being difficult to follow the narration as it jumps back and forth between descriptions of first one mansion, then another, back to the first mansion, amd then to tangentially related historical events that were taking place in New York City at the same time. This is the kind of book that, because it is filled with great information, I really want to sit down and edit/rewrite, just for the sake of soothing my irritation with the obviously knowledgeable author who didn't ever have the benefit of a decent editor.