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:

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