Eric Sloane was famous for his pen and ink drawing of rural American life. Born in 1905 in New York, Sloane trained as a fine artist and for a while made a living as a sign painter as he worked his way across the country. But he eventually returned to the New York region settling in New Milford, CT. Sloane was intrigued with early American living, especially in New England and had an affinity for all things related to tools, mechanical devices and country know-how. But his interests went deeper.

By studying how the American landscape was changing in the early and mid 20th century, Sloane literally sketched out the history of our changing landscape. In this collection of stories and drawings, Sloane focuses on roads and the landscape. We learn about covered bridges and snow rollers, inns and country churches, plank roads and road scrapers, gates, mills and fences. As always, Sloane is both informative and entertaining and the pen and ink illustrations are simply wonderful. If you have enjoyed any of the other Sloane books on the N-News book list, then this is certainly one to add to your collection. $11 plus s&h.