Our Vanishing Landscape

by Eric Sloane

Book Overview

Written with humor and affection, and enhanced with 81 of the author's charming, historically accurate drawings, Our Vanishing Landscape takes readers on a leisurely sojourn through a bygone era. Leading us along rustic winding roads bordering fields and farmhouses, Eric Sloane captures our imaginations as he offers us a guided tour that evokes the America of pioneer times. The fascinating narrative describes networks of canals, corduroy roads, and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345332164
• ISBN13: 9780345332165
• Release Date: October 1985
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Long Gone

A saddening look into how America used to be in comparison to how it is now. Alot of not so good changes have taken place. Another of Sloane's works of art.

I'm an Eric Sloane fan

I have yet to get a book by Sloane that wasn't chock full of interesting facts and/or Americana. My only complaint is that the publishers by and large printed his books on paper that does not age well. Most of his books are bought from the second hand market. Read him if you are interested in the days of yore.

Eric Sloane-Master of the Ordinary

Eric Sloane wrote "Our Vanishing Landscape" in 1955 as the United States was entering the Atomic Age and our rural past was rapidly vanishing. He wanted to document through his wonderful illustrations and writings, a material culture that would soon be gone. Sloane's take on American history ignores the big names and the famous dates. He is more interested on the mundane and ordinary. Sloane's point of view is that most Americans were farmers a hundred years ago and therefore had to master a whole series of skills that are now gone. Purchase this book, if you want to see how are ancestors lived and functioned on a daily basis. Sloane's wonderful illustrations are like a window into a time that is long gone. Eric Sloane's books are addicitng. If you like this book, you will have a whole series of outstanding books to purchase. In this same vein, I would also recommend the works of Edwin Tunis, another master illustrator an historian of America's material culture.

early american life

This book presents early american real life on the farm with many wonderful detailed illustrations. Learn how a grist mill works, how roads were dug, how stone walls came to be, and other wonderful information about early america. The illustraions only add to the reader's understanding and amazement at how ingenious, hardworking, and skilled our early american ancestors were.