“Artful Italy: The Hidden Treasures”
(Invisible Cities Press, $14.95)
“I wrote `Artful Italy’ as if I were having dinner with a friend who is going to Florence for her third time and wants to know what lies outside the Uffizi Gallery.” So begins Ann S. Brandon’s most unusual travel guide to a most unusual country. One of her goals here is to persuade her readers to experience the unknown, to go beyond first impressions in order to better understand the country’s great works of art. Thus, “Artful Italy” is a highly subjective and detailed tour of art from north to south. Brandon has chosen the works that have somehow influenced art history (she mentions, in passing, a rather impressive statistic: 60 percent of the world’s greatest works of art are located in Italy, half of those in Florence). It is also extremely witty and well-written. The chapter on Venice, for example, discusses not only the city’s artful treasures and its centuries-old decline into the sea but also its many literary visitors (“The excess of sex and food turned Byron,” she writes, “fat, pasty, irritable, and un-a-Mused–he found he could not write”). Artwork featured includes the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Caffe Florian in Venice and Raphael’s tapestries in Mantua. This book is not for everyone. Rather it’s for those who savor art and can appreciate the idiosyncracies of an opinionated Italian art lover. Includes black-and-white photographs and essential travel information. (ISBN: 1-931229-04-X)
“America’s Art Museums: A Traveler’s Guide to Great Collections Large and Small”
(W. W. Norton, $18.95)
Italy notwithstanding, the United States also has its share of highly treasured art collections. In “America’s Art Museums,” Suzanne Loebl describes 160 of them, scattered in some 39 states across the country, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, and the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pa. There are many delights here and a few surprises, such as the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec collection at, of all places, the San Diego Museum of Art or the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. And did you know that the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., houses the largest collection of Henry Moore sculptures outside England? Or that more than 100 silver objects made by Paul Revere reside in the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Mass.? Or that the Thomas Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa contains the world’s largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West? Each entry lists practical information as well as summarizing the museum’s history. A wonderful and entertaining resource. (ISBN: 0-393-32006-5)
Regional travel
“In Lincoln’s Footsteps: A Historical Guide to the Lincoln Sites in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky”
(Trails Books Guide, $18.95)
Veteran travel writer Don Davenport informs us that Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky boast some 3,000 historical markers commemorating Abraham Lincoln or those associated with him. What’s a travel writer to do? Davenport wisely has chosen to feature specific sites–25 of them, to be exact–that offer the visitor a “substantial experience.” The sites are arranged mostly chronologically and include the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Ky.; the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Ind.; and Lincoln’s Tomb State Historic Site in Springfield. Each entry offers the essentials, such as hours and how to get there and fairly lengthy descriptions of what happened there. And should you want a change of pace, the author also suggests other attractions in the area. Of great interest, too, is the section on the famous Lincoln-(Stephen) Douglas debates of 1858, seven three-hour orations at locations throughout Illinois: Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy and Alton. The epilogue brings the Lincoln family tree up to date, including a reference to the last living Lincoln descendent, great grandson Robert Lincoln Beckwith, who died in 1985. In addition, the book features a Lincoln chronology, an additional reading list, selected Lincoln publications, Lincoln organizations and Lincoln Web sites. But do read the chatty, informative prologue first to get a sense of the man, not just the larger-than-life public figure. A must for any Lincolnphile. (ISBN: 1-931599-05-X)
Post-Olympic travel
“Building the Kingdom: A History of Mormons in America”
(Oxford University Press, $9.95)
Now that the winter Olympics are over, perhaps all this talk of Salt Lake City and its “peculiar” past may have whetted your appetite for more information. If you’re curious, but not that curious, consider “Building the Kingdom” by Claudia Lauper Bushman and Richard Lyman Bushman, a short (123 pages), accessible guide to the history of Mormons in America. The Bushmans introduce Mormon leaders Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and describe what many people consider unusual Mormon rites and traditions. Includes a chapter on the Mormon city of Nauvoo, Ill. (ISBN: 0-19-515022-8)
“Pilgrimage: Twenty Journeys to Inspire the Soul”
(Quest Books, $35.95)
This coffee-table book describes 20 spiritual sites around the world, including Salt Lake City, as well as Lourdes in France, Corn Mountain and the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico, Santiago de Compostela in Spain and the battlefields of World War I. Includes full-color photos. (ISBN: 0-8356-0804-2)
