Customer Reviews

America's Living History - The Early Years (A Traveler's Guide)

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My wife and I have been traveling America's back roads and visiting its out of the way places for close to fifty years now. We joke that we conceived the concept of "Blue Highways" and traveling them, years before William Least Heat Moon even completed his undergrad work, (reference Blue Highways, A Journey into America by said author). Our travels, over the years, would have been much enhanced, much simpler and certainly more informative and enjoyable had the Sheumaker's book been with us the entire time. I will state, at this time, that through our travels in this country (and several others), we have visited a great many of the places featured in this work. The authors have nailed each site perfectly! That being said....

What a wonderful travel book! For those seeking a vacation, adventure or just knowledge of our great country, this book is for you. You will find no Six Flags, Disney Worlds, or their ilk here. (Very fine places, I know, but not for everyone). The authors lead us to various out of the way places, and show us the roots from which we sprang. The sites featured in this book date from prehistory through about 1845. These are living historical sites, those developed by government agencies or private organizations to educate and display for us, just how it was in days long past. The book addresses 300 destinations, all historic, and each one enough to make a history and travel nut drool. The book breaks the country down into the Far West, Desert Southwest, Mountains and Prairies, Central and South, Northeast as well as the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Each section is further broken down into America's Native Peoples, European Colonization, Religious and Secular Groups and The Road to Independence.

The photographs in this work are rather stunning, not only in their clarity, but composition as well. They truly give you a feel for the place. Each photograph is accompanied by a wonderful explanation and further important details. The authors have provided very nice maps and given good written directions to each location. With each location we are provided with a mini-history lesson, and given a surprisingly accurate and in depth overview of the site, considering the space allowed. The text of the book is simple, easy to understand and, most importantly, informative and accurate! The authors have also provided phone numbers and web sites for each location. I love the way these two have inserted little nuggets of information (found in shaded boxes) throughout the text of the book. These little bits of information are a history lesson in themselves. It should also be noted that with a little research and a little effort on the traveler's part, literally hundreds of other locations can be found near the sites featured by the authors. No book can cover them all, but this one gives you a wonderful start!

Bottom line is that this is a very useful book, one that you certainly will want to pack along with you on your next trip, or even better, help plan your next journey. It is well done, interesting and just plane fun to browse through even if you never leave your front door. We carry two very large boxes of various field guides (birds, insects, plants, critters, history books, maps, etc.) on each of our trips. This work will go to the top of the boxes from now on. I do hope the authors plan and second book covering our history from the time this one leaves off to present. Highly recommend this work!

"America's Living History: The Early Years" is the collaborative work of Suzanne and Craig Sheumaker who succeeded in compiling and writing a unique and history oriented travel guide showcasing three hundred historically significant destinations showcasing America's heritage from its beginning European contacts down through the mid-nineteenth century and the opening of the country to the west. "America's Living History" is much more than just a travel guide for the historically inclined, it also lays out a fascinating survey of the history of the founding and settling of an infant nation as illustrated by the histories of these recommended tourist sites and, taken as a whole, tell the remarkable story of our country's most formative years. Profusely illustrated with some five hundred color photographs, regional maps and tourist details, "America's Living History" offers a thoroughly 'reader friendly' text composed of brief and informative histories of the various places setting them into a proper context within the greater drama of nation building and development. "America's Living History" is a very highly recommended addition to school and community library American History reference collections, and a valued guidebook for parents wanting to instill a love of history and a respect for America's past in their children by taking them for on-site inspections of those places where events and personalities of the past have shaped and influenced the present.

This book is full of interesting information and really great photographs from cover to cover. It would make a terrific gift for someone newly retired, or for a Father of any age. It is a real find for an armchair traveler like myself!

'America's Living History - THe Early Years' is a very good and concise travel guide for some well known and not as well known points of interest to all history fans. The books provides a brief description of a large number of historical sites through out the USA. The descriptions do provide enough information to help plan a vacation. Also included for the sites are phone numbers, internet addresses, directions, etc.

I read a lot of history books, and live in Washington Crossing, PA (yes, the location where Washington crossed the Delaware River to attack the Trenton). I was surprised at the number of sites included in this book. I read the sites near my home and found them to be accurate and very well written.

By coincidence, my family is planning a trip to Arizona. I used the book to research all sites in the Arizona area, which has been a tremendous help in planning our trip.

The book has organized the sites by subject (Am Revolution, secular sites, etc) and also includes regional maps to locate all sites in a particular area.

This book has been and I believe will be a great reference for future trips across the country. There are also a number of local sites that I have not visited yet, but are now on the list. Enjoy!

For anyone planning a road trip in the US with a historical focus (or wishing to add a history-oriented sidetrack to a trip), I cannot think of a better one-volume resource than Suzanne and Craig Sheumaker's "America's Living History: The Early Years".

Hundreds of sites are covered: places where famous events occurred and places where the past is authenically recreated. Short but informative descriptions of each site are provided, along with contact details (phone and Internet) to obtain additional information. Excellent photographs are included to give a good sense of each site, and these photographs are a pleasure in themselves to simply browse through.

"America's Living History: The Early Years" is very well-organized, both geographically to assist in planning a trip and thematically to develop the story of American history from the era of the Native Peoples through the years of European exploration and settlement into Independence and the beginnings of Western expansion. I hope that the authors will follow up this book with another devoted to a living history of the rest of the Nineteenth century, presented in a similar format.

Browing through the site descriptions and photographs, I found myself smiling at recollections of those that I have visited and with anticipation of future visits to those I have not yet seen. And, in a few cases, shaking my head at my failure to visit some within easy driving distance (failures I now plan to remedy, thanks to the Sheumaker's enthralling book).

We are history buffs at home--both of us grew up in historic areas. Trips to Gettysburg, Independence Hall, The Old North Church and Washington, DC were in our childhood experiences. You could hardly take a daytrip without seeing some of America's oldest treasures. So we as children enjoyed historical sites and we still stop for historical markers as a habit when we are out touring any area.


For people with similar tastes or who have children to educate, this is a wonderful resource. Some of the well-known and lesser known historical sites all over the US that date from the early years are laid out in a travel guide format.


The book is organized by popular sites, subjects like religious movements, colonization, the Western movement, and the Revolutionary War and the times leading up to this watershed event. Each historical site has photographs, address and phone number and a synopsis of what is available for touring. The geographical maps show towns or cities of interest. The only thing missing would be day trip routes in some of the more densely-historical areas (Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, New Jersey.)



But there are also timelines and write-ups of the history of the times (the Shakers, the Mormons, the battles of the Revolution and War of 1812, and the early contact with Native Americans.) So the book is not just a "what to see" but has important background and a good if brief overview of early American history.

After I read this book, I immediately wanted to go see at least a half a dozen sites I had not visited that are not really very far from my, and added a list of places I want to see next time I'm out West.


This is a very pretty book and one that home schoolers would find absolutely a treasure. My parents took us on endless daytrips on weekends and these are some of my fondest memories of childhood. If you have kids and an automobile, I'd put this book on the "must-have" list because you can build some excellent memories and give your kids a fine sense of where we came from as a nation. Big thumbs-up and I eagerly await more in this series.

America's Living History is without a doubt one of the best pictorial guides I've had the pleasure of reading in a very long while. This title cover the entire United States touching on various historical aspects of our history. From Indian culture to various religious cultures including the Mormons, Amish, Amanas, and Shakers to name a few, there is plenty of interesting information to be found.

With beautiful full color pictures and a brief descriptions of the various historic landmarks, including contact information such as address, phone number and web address,' this is a wonderful way to get back in touch with our color and diverse history.

This book is perfect if you're planning a historic vacation, or simply love to immerse yourself in a good book for the sake of pleasure only. Either way it's money well spent.

Suzanne and Craig Sheumaker express their objective as being to help us find "the places and expeiences which immerse us in [American] history, making real through direct exposure what otherwise can only be imagined through books, lectures, museums and films". They succeed in a very major way.

"Living History" is a lavish presentation of 300 destinations that illuminate the early years of America's history. It is a beautiful book, well-designed and abundantly illustrated with photographs and maps. The Sheumakers describe their criteria for selection as 1) historical accuracy (needs to be far more than just a commemorative plaque); 2) sites ideally have historically based activities; 3) demonstrate aspects of early American life; 4) superior atmosphere (leaves out amusement parks); 5) pre-1840 (for this book - I do hope there are more); 6) subtantiveness.

What the Sheumakers have wrought is both an exquisite armchair travel book and a guide. I admit to being moved to want to just jump in the car and start driving as I psged through this book. Too bad I live in a part of the Midwest which is relatively deficient in spots the Sheumakers would include.

I cannot do justice to this book. It's boundless illustrations and the concise, well-written descriptions for each of the suggested destinations. The Sheumakers are intelligenr people writing for the benefit of other intelligent people.

In truth, I probably won't get to most of the places the Sheumakers describe, but at least I will have the benefit of the Sheumaker's portrayal of them - and that is a plus.

I highly recommend this book both to armchair and real-life travelers. It is a gem and I hope the start of a long series.

Jerry

Glossy, replete with color photos, drawings and maps, intensively researched and fully lived, this traveler's guide to America and its early history is a vagabond's delight. It is also very nicely organized beginning with the Northeastern states, the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, each section with its own map. And then on to the Central and South, the Mountains and Prairies, the Desert Southwest, and finally the Far West. Some destinations in Alaska and Hawaii are also included.

With the accent on history (and some pre-history, by the way) the book is dense with facts and photos of artifacts, historical buildings, forts, petroglyphs, monuments, totem poles, museums, farms, settlements, villages, gold mines, historical parks, clipper ships, cannons, churches, haciendas, flags waving, and soldiers in full dress authentic uniforms standing at attention.

Suzanne and Craig Sheumaker bring a rare kind of passion and love for America and its history to the pages that make this dense and lively volume both an exciting travelogue and a book of colorful history. The idea is to see more of America than the usual tourist sees, to see deeper and to see with eyes informed by the grand progression of past events and the pageantry of a great people and their myriad cultures.

The Sheumakers give phone numbers, Web addresses, links to the appropriate maps, and of course advice on what to see and how to see it and when. Some of the photos are breathtaking. I especially loved the shot of a lone red cannon on a rise between two trees with clouds in the background, and the spring grass in the foreground on page 130. The prose is tidy and crammed with information, facts, ideas, connections, and celebrations.

The book is beautifully presented and edited. It makes me want to go out and buy a Winnebago, put some traveling songs on the CD player, say, Willie Nelson's "I Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again" or "Get Your Kicks on Route 66," pack the bags, attach the bikes, and gas her up!

The best travel books are informative, well illustrated and offer enducements to visit the places described. This one meets all the criteria - with the added bonus that it's subject focussed. The title, "Living History" conveys the theme of tourist sites with presence. Many of them are, even prehistoric, but the condition and facilities are restored or prepared for visitors. Even the older sites are often more than simply dreary ruins. They are living elements that give the visitor a sense of "being there" in both place and time during "the Early Years" of what became the United States.

Organised by topic, from prehistoric sites to the age of frontier settlement - although all of North America's history is one of the frontier - the next level is geographic. This technique provides the traveller with local as well as distant options for places to visit. A general map indicates the relative location for each of the presented sites. This is followed by a "timeline" giving the concurrent historical periods with colour-coding to regional sites. Coloured edges and caps on the pages facilitate quick look-up for areas accessible to whatever the reader wishes to investigate. Route maps and descriptions of highway numbers and access points are well depicted.

It is the site presentations that give this book its real value. Each location carries at least one excellent photograph providing a general view with some of details. On the paper used for the book, the pics are ideal. The general and specific mix is a fine aid in helping the traveller decide what to pay attention to at the location. Good descriptive material, including the site's history and relation to events makes each site entry worth attention. In addition, those sites with URLs provide a further resource. Where once the truly investigative reader might have bemoaned the lack of a list of further reading material, these Web references are a fine enhancement. A random survey returned every page with ease, making this element even more useful for those making holiday decisions.

Given the amount of information provided in such a limited format, this book is an outstanding accomplishment. While there are bigger books that may have more information, this book provides a fine starting point to have handy for planning. An excellent resource for family travellers and history buffs alike. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]