Reviews for The American heritage book of great historic places

The average rating for The American heritage book of great historic places based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-03-12 00:00:00 Lou Austin "1967" is only a rough guess as to when I first read this book, and saying I read it "one" time is misleading in a way. It's a book I acquired from a boarder who stayed with my mother and I in our spare bedroom in the late 60s for a time, and left his book collection when he had to go to a VA nursing home. (This was, of course, the 1957 edition.) I've read it through at least once, but I read parts of it, at least, here and there on many occasions, since I found it genuinely fascinating. (Discovering it in the Bluefield College library collection years later was like reconnecting with an old friend!) Published under the auspices of American Heritage magazine, and under the general guidance of its editors, this is essentially a guidebook to historic tourist sites all over the United States, divided into nine regions: New England, the middle Atlantic states, the Southern Appalachians, the "Old South," the lower Mississippi, the "Lakes and Prairie" area, the Great Plains (including Texas), the Spanish Southwest, and the "Farthest Frontier," which is basically the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest. All of these regions are divided up in such a way as to consist of whole states, except for the last two; California and Nevada are divided between them. Each region has a full-page map showing sites of interest, and a state-by-state listing, alphabetical by city/town, of the various history-related tourist attractions, with descriptions and (where available) information on hours, admission prices, etc. In every case, these listings run to several pages (and these are large pages; it's an oversized book, though not so oversized as to handle awkwardly for reading). Given that this was published in 1957, some of the details are undoubtedly dated (the prices certainly are, in the case of sites that charge), but the basic information would still be useful to history buffs planning trips, or wondering what historic places there are to visit in a particular area. However, this is only what we might call the nucleus of the book, around which the main bulk of it is laid out. For each region, there are a varying number of narrative sections dealing with particular localities and what happened there in a particular period, or with particular aspects, eras or themes of the region's history, laid out in a roughly chronological fashion. This narrative text is by Richard M. Ketchum, who also serves as editor for the book as a whole; it's well-written, meaty and informative, with solid facts delivered in a highly readable and engaging fashion. While it does not serve as a complete general history of the U.S., it serves as an excellent supplement to the subject. In the tradition of this publisher's many history-related "coffee-table" books, this one is also lavishly illustrated with photographs, reproductions of paintings and etchings, etc., many of them in color; these illustrations don't usurp the function of the text, but they enhance it enormously. Anyone with an interest in the field, serious or casual, would find this a rewarding and enjoyable read, and even a history major would be apt to discover a wealth of new information.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-02-28 00:00:00 Doug Burnett 940.5(917.3)