New Hampshire Books

One way of killing time when you are a kid and you have a piece of paper and a pen or pencil is to draw a map of the United States. You start with Maine and then you drawn Vermont and New Hampshire over Massachusetts, with Connecticut and Rhode Island tucked underneath before you get to New York. What you probably forget, assuming you even knew it in the first place, is that a bit of New Hampshire actually comes down to the Atlantic in between Maine and Massachusetts. New Hampshire has a port city, Portsmouth no less. If you drive along I-95 from Maine to Massachusetts you will drive through Portsmouth and see that New Hampshire is a seafaring state. Therefore, when you see that the state seal, which appears on the state flag, is dominated by a ship, the "Raleigh," you will not be greatly surprised.

Having started with Maine as our first stop in the From Sea to Shining Sea series, we now visit New Hampshire, with Terry Miller Shannon as our tour guide. The short opening chapter introduces us to the Granite State, the seventh smallest of the state with an abundance of valuable natural resources. Shannon emphasizes the interesting places in the state, from Mount Monadnock (the most-climbed mountain in the world) to Mystery Hill in North Salem (home to some of the oldest buildings in North America). Chapter Two, The Land of New Hampshire covers the basic geography of the state, looking at the three distinctive land regions (Seaboard Lowland, New England Upland, and the White Mountains), the 1,300 lakes and rivers, and the climate (expect snow on Mount Washington during the summer).

Chapter Three, New Hampshire Through History, begins with the nomad wanderers who came to North America 12,000 years ago, continues through the Algonquian tribes in the area, and the Early European Explorers (including John Smith). Shannon focuses on the establishment of the colony and the question of setting New Hampshire's boundaries, and its contributions during the American Revolution. The state's history continues through the Civil War and into this century, making it the largest chapter in the book. Chapter Four Governing New Hampshire, talks about the oldest constitution in the United States and the three branches of government before taking a tour of Concord, the state capital. In these volumes you will find a down top map of the capital, which will show you where the state house stands in relationship to the Museum of New Hampshire History and other buildings of interest. Chapter Five, The People and Places of New Hampshire, looks at what it means to be working in New Hampshire and takes a tour of the various regions to give you an idea of what there is to see there. This is also the chapter where you get the book's recipe, which is the Use-It-Up, Make-It-Do, Franco-American Toast (a thrifty way to use leftover bread, which adds vanilla and cinnamon to the eggs and milk in which you dip the day-old bread).

The book is filled with contemporary color photographs and historical illustrations, although as you might have heard "The Old Man of the Mountain" that is the state symbol and the subject of the final photograph in the book, gave way a few years back (after it was immortalized on the New Hampshire quarter). As you can see from the cover, New Hampshire is the home to some great covered bridges as well. Throughout the book there are informative little sidebars in three categories: Find Out More (e.g., how the town of Rumford was renamed Concord), Who's Who in New Hampshire (e.g., Daniel Webster and Christa McAuliffe), and Extra! Extra! (e.g., there are more than one hundred recording spellings of the name Winnipesaukee).

In the back of the book Shannon provides a New Hampshire Almanac, which lists a lot of fast facts about former capitals and state symbols. This is followed by a Timeline that parallels New Hampshire State History on the top and U.S. History on the bottom (note that Martin Pring landed along New Hampshire's coast in 1603, four years before the first permanent British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia that the history books always emphasize). There is a Gallery of Famous New Hampshirites from Ken Burns to David Souter (with Robert Frost and John Irving in between), and a Glossary of terms from "ancient" to "textile." If you need to look For More Information about New Hampshire for a school report, Shannon provides a trio of useful Web Sites and three rather eclectic Books (e.g., "Yum, Yum!: The New Hampshire Kid's Cookbook"), along with a couple of Addresses you can actually write to for information.

There is more to New Hampshire than just the beautiful White Mountains (although I do miss the "Old Man Of The Mountain"). This little book will tell you all about this historic and prosperous state. In fact, the entire "Portrait of America" series provides you with great nutshells of information about each of our 50 states, and is valuable to both parents and teachers as a teaching tool.

Very handy! A nice light-weight reference to carry in your backpack, car or purse. The plastic coating can withstand moisture & will easily wipe clean.

Four-color printing on heavy, stain-resistant paper that is approximately 2 feet wide and 3 feet long (unfolded). One side is a beautiful map of New Hampshire showing all the covered bridges in the state, interesting facts about bridges and their designers, a key that lists each bridge with its corresponding town, and labelled watercolors of 24 of the bridges. The opposite side shows the various types of bridge trusses and lists all the state's covered bridges by town. Each entry gives the date the bridge was built, information about its design and construction, directions to the bridge, and its official New Hampshire bridge number.

This is a beautiful and informative map, and I intend to buy another so I'll have one to use and one to display. I will also look for other guides by this talented group. Very nice -- and what a deal!

New Hampshire Folk Tales was first published in 1932 and was a compilation of legends and stories handed down from mother to daughter.They were published so that they would not be forgotten or lost. The "Story of the Linden Tree" recounts how the real Josiah Bartlett, yes there was one before television, brought an inverted cone-shaped tree to his hometown of Kingston after signing The Declaration of Independence. Bartlett was the last President and first Governor of New Hampshire. The tree is situated in front of the Bartlett residence. There are tales of witches, ghost, encounters with Indians, tales that grandmothers told of pioneer life, all done without gruesome detail, but one's imagination can wander can't it?

Very interesting look at the the makeup of the New Hampshire primary and interesting facts and history.

The definitive study of one of most significant events in any presidential election year. Palmer's easy prose and elegant wit, married with theoretical depth and perceptive sharpness have never been shown to better effect. Do whatever it takes to get a copy of this book!

Finally a comprehensive map book of all of New Hampshire. Like all American Map products, it is well put together and easy to read. Important tourist destinations are highlighted. Now if American Maps can just do one book for all of Ct. all will be convered in New England.

In the late nineteenth century, an American cultural center that arose in New Hampshire Village became known as the Cornish Colony. A summer retreat of the famous sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens, the Colony became the center of an American renaissance that lured notables in the arts, literature, music, and theatre such as Maxfield Parish, Paul Manship, Witter Bynner, Walter Damrosch, Isadora Duncan, Marie Dressler -- and even President Woodrow Wilson. From the 1880s to the 1920s, the Colony comprised an elite center of cultural communication but in the remainder of the twentieth century it was largely ignored by cultural historians. Fortunately, especially for lovers of the arts and history who live far from New England, Fern Meyers and James Atkinson have collected a stunning set of photographs that evoke the ambiance of a community of artists inspired by a setting in the high hills alongside the broad Connecticut River. Their detailed comments encapsulate the history and ethnography of the Colony with an intimate view of residents' personalities and activities at work and play. Men and women artists are given equal time, and even children get a share in the description of their pageants and plays, one of them directed by Ethel Barrymore. A delightful collection of photographs depicts a remarkable group of talented individuals and families in "the Gilded Age" of American culture. Highly recommended for cultural historians, critics, and all lovers of the arts.

Peter Randall is a New Hampshire native whose gift for capturing his local surroundings on film are only enhanced by his use of a panoramic camera. Using a special camera which records onto a 2.5 by 6.5 inch film, the author has collected images of the local scene which stop the casual browser and command close reading of the details within his compositions of farm, forest, and ordinary town scenes. This is a book to spend a quiet evening examining and exploring what someone with love of place and skill with camera can do