Historic American Covered Bridges
You don't have to be a fan ofRobert James Wallerto admire the covered bridges of the American Midwest. You'll learn from this heavily illustrated book how important those bridges were to rural communities; quite apart from spanning streams of water, they served as gathering places, even makeshift town halls and wedding parlors. You'll also learn that many of them are all but doomed to disappear in the face of "progress." The bridges were not originally confined to the Midwest, but many in the East are already gone; only one, for instance, survives in New Jersey. This book makes a quiet but powerful case for preserving those that remain. If you're a fan ofEric Sloane's books of rural Americana, you're sure to enjoy this excursion into the countryside.