Presidential Places: A Guide to the Historic Sites of U.S. Presidents

If you are interested in seeing and visiting sites associated with Presidents and history, this is a nice addition to your library. It is laid out and presented nice. I would liked to have had an updated new edition with more current information and I would have liked to have had information on the grave sites included.

I have taken to working historical sites into my vacations, mostly Civil War and, since last year, Presidential sites. My interest in Presidential sites has increased with C-Span's 25th anniversary series on U.S. Presidents. A friend told me about the book and I bought it. I like the format (organized by President) and it has been very useful in helping me plan an upcoming trip into Virginia, with various Presidential related stops. Not that I'd carry it in the car all the time (since there are no Presidential sites here in Wisconsin) but when I'm on one of my road trips, this goes next to the atlas.

If you're a presidential buff like me, you'll love this book. Whenever I travel, I love to look up and visit sites relating to the presidents. Before this book, I had to rely on general maps, which have lots of limitations for this kind of thing. Now, I just need to carry this book.It's very well organized. The two basic organization schemes are by president and by state. The first scheme constitutes the main part of the book. It's very well laid out, with sections for different life events (birth, death, inauguration, etc.). Each of these sections includes clearly-delineated addresses and hours. There's just enough "story" to know what you're visiting, but without being bogged down in the details. There are also URLs for those sites that have web pages!On the down side, I wish there were more pictures. They could have well fit in the grey boxes that say "travelogue" (I haven't a clue what those are for!). I also wish sites that aren't open to the public at least had addresses (it can't hurt just to look from the street).