INDIANA

A forthright look at the Hoosier State that manages to omit Johnny Appleseed. Starting with a general idea of the state--the Lincoln boyhood home, agricultural beginnings, lost powers (Detroit's ascension in the automobile industry, the squandering of natural gas), the growth of Calumet--this goes back to the early mound builders and the Indians, colonial settlement and revolution (with kudos for George Rogers Clark), and a short history to c. 1830. Subsequent history appears according to subject: communal living (New Harmony), education, government (Benjamin Harrison, Debs, Wilkie), the Civil War (and a jump to Hatcher in Gary), state holidays and the Capital, and the ""American"" aspects of its cities. Only writers receive a ""famous"" chapter, although as is customary in this series other personages are listed in the back. A rather curious explanation of the Klan activities of the 1920s (Hoosiers are ""joiners"") but essentially sound.