Art of the State Arizona

by Cynthia Overbeck Bix

Book Overview

This is one of a series of compact books designed to celebrate the essence of each of the 50 United States, illustrating and describing its natural wonders, historical and cultural milestones,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810955555
• ISBN13: 9780810955554
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

A snapshot of Arizona's people, places and pastimes

Years ago, when preparing for my 50-state road trip I'd purchased a load of travel guides to help plan what to see in each state, which satisfied me until I stumbled upon the first ART OF STATE book in Iowa and quickly purchased all the other states available. This curious book series made all other travel books pale by comparison. Deceptively small, slim, lightweight and light read, these books pack a punch of meaningful, inspirational information. Beautifully designed and written, they are thoroughly engaging and a joy to read--like finding an ancestor's scrapbook or diary in the attic and reading a fascinating family heritage while peering over images of a buried past. Each author must be a native or a deliberate transplant, for they tell each state's story lovingly, with a deep appreciation of the state--and not just its good features, but the blemishes, too, described evenhandedly. Photographs of architecture, landscapes paintings, crafts and memorabilia complement the words. Each book presents the state's history, climate, landscape, traditions, symbols, recipes, must-see destinations and a statewide calendar of events. I've purchased all the books in the series (20 of the 50 states as of 2007). If your budget won't allow you to buy all 20, at least buy two: one of your home state and one of your adopted state. You'll be amazed at what you discover. I apologize for raving so much about THE ART OF STATE series, but it was such a find for me, like discovering a diamond in a sea of glass. I can't help but gush. Now, about the Arizona edition. Each book in the series has a wallpaper type of design for its inside cover: a background color, unique to the state, dotted with a state motif. I try to guess what the wallpaper will be before opening the book. Sometimes I correctly guess the motif, but rarely the background color. Arizona, though, was no surprise: a midday sun-yellow background dotted with little green saguaro cactus, limbs raised in a surrendering pose. The Arizona volume devotes a great number of pages to its people, primarily the Native Americans and Mexican/Spanish: their art, religion, and crafts, and the wild west American opportunists of cowboys, (for example Wyatt Earp and the great shootout at the OK Corral), and prospectors of silver and copper and the wild camps that served them. Art and architecture gets equal coverage against descriptions of the landscape: the deserts, the canyons and mesas, with a dab of city coverage. Public works, particularly water reclamation, gets its due respect as does pastimes unique to this area: hot-rodding, hot-air ballooning, rodeos and so on. I admit that of all the books, this one didn't thrill me as the others had. There were no "Oh, wow!" moments as the other books in this series provide. And some of my favorite parts of Arizona, such as Sedona, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest and Lowell Observatory only got brief mentions. Overall, though, a good introduction to Arizona, thoug