Customer Reviews

In Catskill Country: Collected Essays on Mountain History, Life, and Lore

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This is a fine introduction to the work of Alf Evers, the great Catskills historian. Evers' love of the Catskills -- a craggy, cranky, lovely place -- has resulted in several of the greatest local histories written in American literature. His two major books, "The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock" and "Woodstock: The History of an American Town," are both huge, almost cuboid, works that patiently allow their subjects to be as complex as they are. "In Catskill Country" is a collection of essays written in recent years by a historian who knows the stories lying behind just about every tree in his neck of the woods.

The small volume is very well written and packed with great stories of the Catskill Mountains.

Alf Evers, who published masterful histories of the Catskill Mountains, Woodstock (New York) and Kingston (New York), was the Vice-President of the New York State Folklore Society and town historian of Woodstock for many years before his death. He was also the a board member on the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development since its inception. There was thus little about the Catskill Mountains that Alf Evers did not know.

"In Catskill Country" is Evers best book in that it allowed the author to tell a number of interesting and entertaining stories with a wit and sense of humor that makes this a truly fun read. Evers writes about the people and places of his beloved Catskill Mountains with respect and affection. Best of all, this book is well illustrated with photographs and drawings of the region.

Anyone who loves New York State or the Catskill Mountains will treasure "In Catskill Country".