THE AMERICAN HERITAGE BOOK OF GREAT HISTORIC PLACES

A sure candidate for sales and honors in the holiday roundup --and a book, furthermore, that should have long life and a permanent place on the shelves of American history and guides. Here in pictures, copies of prints, contemporary photographs (700 of them, with 154 in full color), maps, spot drawings, text and listings of places to see for each geographical area, is a narrative of history, as it happened, as it is recalled in visits to places where it happened. It is an extraordinary book, for an immense amount of information is packed into the text; the landmarks which provide the springboard, come into focus; there is never forgotten a sense of how men lived and thought in times past. Whatever part of the country you live in or visit, here is a book that will enrich your understanding, your appreciation. Now and again- in minor aspects- one feels that the text might be more immediate:-the recent Jamestown excavations, for instance, have gone far beyond what is suggested in the rather sparse text; the Hagley Foundation Museum is a functioning and astoundingly complete recreation. But in the main, this is tops in its field.