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| Binding: | Kindle Edition |
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| Label: | Countryman Press |
| Publisher: | Countryman Press |
| Studio: | Countryman Press |
| Tags: | new england icons shaker villages saltboxes stone walls steeples |
Editorial Reviews
We tend to think of icons as simple, graphic, stone or wooden objects without much depth or life, left overs from bygone eras. But Bruce Irving, former producer of the popular PBS show This Old House, will have none of that. In a collection of short essays, Irving taps into our collective consciousness by extolling the comforting sense of place we associate with such common and not-so-common New England sights as stone walls, village greens, lobster boats, classic ski runs, and garden cemeteries, to name but a few—symbols of enduring importance that are also still full of life and character.
Curl up in your favorite chair, relax, and take a tour of our common heritage—or take this insightful cultural guide with you as you travel New England’s highways and byways. It’s sure to shed new light on the old stalwart landscape features you see every day.
Curl up in your favorite chair, relax, and take a tour of our common heritage—or take this insightful cultural guide with you as you travel New England’s highways and byways. It’s sure to shed new light on the old stalwart landscape features you see every day.
Related Reviews
The photos in this beautiful book remind me of all that I miss about New England. The text was informative, concise and easy to read in short bursts or one start to finish (which I did), sitting. A great escape on a gray northwest type of day.
Being from the West Coast we don't have the history New England has. This book captures some of the history and is very well done. Both words and pictures.
Delightful, a great gift for New Englanders and visitors alike
This little book is loaded with information and charm. The photographs are dazzling, and the choice of icons (including the local hardware store) take this book out of the realm of the ordinary red-barn-white-cow-village-green type of coffee table book. The descriptions are beautifully written; New England Icons will be in the hands of many of my friends and relatives come holiday time.
Fun and informative quick read
Though I have lived in New England most of my life, and have always enjoyed reading history, I still learned a tremendous amount of fun new facts about why our landscape looks like it does. The author is a good story-teller, he brings the physical history of our region alive. I read it straight through in a short afternoon.
This book is a MUST for anyone who has lived in New England. As for me, having moved down south 15 years ago, this is a reminder of what is still special in my heart. Growing up in New England, the church on the green, the classic salt box house, the white picket fences, all those memories have stayed with me and often I find myself looking for that in my surroundings. New England is like no other place and Bruce Irving has captured this in both his wonderful descriptions and amazing photography. Hats off to a job well done. I will cherish this book for years to come.
New England you can take with you
A memory maker of all I love about New England. Witty insights - glorious pictures - ones we have all seen with our eye but never seem to capture on that home camera (ok me at least). For those of us who only visit for moments this a the best way to take New England home. Open it up, steal away for a read, and relish all that is so special and perfectly encapsulated about New England.
Bruce Irving transported me from my day-to-day Midwestern existence to the ski resorts, textile mills, salt boxes, ice houses and landscapes I've idealized since my first childhood viewing of "White Christmas" (and subsequent studies of revolutionary America, Thoreau's Walden, etc., etc., etc.) The topics are presented in a refreshingly accessible way; each consuming no more than a handful of pages and wonderfully augmented by Greg Premru's beautiful photography. Most importantly, the author approaches the subjects with a knowing sense of humor and playfulness that brings the stories and descriptions to life. The included map of sites-of-interest is worth the price of admission alone. I can almost hear Bing and Danny on their way to Vermont now... "Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow..." If you want to indulge in the wonder, look, sounds and feel of New England without the airfare or miles-per-gallon, this book will take you there.
An Art Book With Deeper Ambitions
This book is a bit subversive in that its "coffee table" format belies what is really a first-rate collection of essays. Irving is a very good writer who avoids all the cliches about New England and brings original thinking to regional topics that have been written nearly to death, from sugar shacks to widow's walks. That would be enough to recommend the book highly, but Irving is also a terrific reporter who mines insight from dozens of experts, like the last builder of wooden lobster boats in Maine. He's also clearly well-read, as his literary references are deep, not the kind of stuff you pluck out of Wikipedia. Overall a fine job that begs more from the author, with or without pretty pictures. Fans of This Old House will also enjoy the highly personal foreword by Norm Abram.
I have lived in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine all of my seventy-two years, including restoring a 1794 cape, so I thought I knew it all. This delightful little book proved I didn't. It is the perfect housewarming gift for anyone moving to New England "from away."
Good things come in small packages!
"New England Icons" is much, much more than a "coffee table" book. Informative, readable, and illustrated with striking photos, this small volume comes chock-a-block full of regional history, geography, lore, and personal reminiscences, all informed by the author's intimate knowledge of the building methods, structures and natural environment of New England.
Better than any travel book, "Icons" points the way to discovering and rediscovering what is quintessentially New England. Reading it made me nostalgic for a simpler time, but also eager to plan our next trip to New Hampshire and Vermont.
Better than any travel book, "Icons" points the way to discovering and rediscovering what is quintessentially New England. Reading it made me nostalgic for a simpler time, but also eager to plan our next trip to New Hampshire and Vermont.
I love this little book full of fun facts about things I see everyday and have my whole New England life. All my friends and family are getting this book as holiday and birthday gifts. I urge Mr. Irving to write New England Icons II by this time next year!
Purchase the hardback edition; read it, give it to friends, all will enjoy and learn useful and interesting tidbits about New England. How about more from this emergent author and his colleagues!
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