VERMONT: A SPECIAL WORLD.

Editedby by Walter Hard Jr. '37, Ralph N. Hill'39, and Murray Hoyt. Montpelier, Vt.:Vermont Life Magazine, 1969. Distributedby Houghton Mifflin Co. 167 pp. $15.00.

This pictorial interpretation of Vermont in all seasons, in color, is a jewel of a book. It is certainly one of the handsomest and most appealing volumes to come along in many a day, doing justice to a jewel of a state.

Those familiar with the quarterly magazine, Vermont Life, edited by Mr. Hard, will have some idea of the character and quality of the color photographs which are the heart of this book; but this is by no means a rehash of previously published contents. There seems to be some new pictorial material, or if this is not really so, the superb quality of the color reproductions in large book form serves to make everything look fresh and new. The reader, mindful of the chaotic din, dirt and despoiling of modern-day America, will give thanks that Vermont still has such peaceful beauty and that it is making a conscious effort to preserve it.

The editors have divided the book into the four seasons and for each season they have written short essays and made appropriate selections from the writings of others. The text makes good reading and provides a happy balance, but this is primarily a picture book. Mountains, lakes, towns, pasture lands, and country roads, decked in the pale greens of spring, the golden hues of summer, the riotous colors of fall, and the frosty white of winter, are all here, persuading one that Vermont is indeed "a special world," as the editors claim. Messrs. Hard, Hill, and Hoyt have done a splendid job.