Parades tell us something important about American culture and almost every place has a parade tradition. The Best Ever! explores this tradition as enacted in the small cities and towns of New England, events that at once celebrated the skeleton of the American Story and amplified both the distinctive regional and the broader national cultures. Meticulously documented and lavishly illustrated with nearly 300 photographs, The Best Ever! offers never-before-seen pictures of actual parades, including floats and banners that have mostly disappeared and ranging from the Federal Ship carried in the 1788 Ratification parade at New Haven, Connecticut, to 1940 when the parade tradition largely halted at the onset of WWII. Copublished with Old Sturbridge Village.

Parades tell us something important about American culture and almost every place has a parade tradition. The Best Ever! explores this tradition as enacted in the small cities and towns of New England, events that at once celebrated the skeleton of the American Story and amplified both the distinctive regional and the broader national cultures. Meticulously documented and lavishly illustrated with nearly 300 photographs, The Best Ever! offers never-before-seen pictures of actual parades, including floats and banners that have mostly disappeared and ranging from the Federal Ship carried in the 1788 Ratification parade at New Haven, Connecticut, to 1940 when the parade tradition largely halted at the onset of WWII. Copublished with Old Sturbridge Village.

This charming book portrays domestic life in New England during the century between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Drawing on diaries, letters, wills, newspapers, and other sources, Jane C. Nylander provides intimate details about preparing dinner, spinning and weaving textiles, washing and ironing laundry, planning a social outing, and exchanging food and services. Probing behind the many myths that have grown up about this era, Nylander reveals the complex reality of everyday life in old New England. "Nylander . . . invites her readers to enjoy her copious knowledge of the interiors and domestic management of late-18th-century New England homes. The imaginatively illustrated [book] is dedicated to the notion that the details of everyday life form the core of human experience."-Martha Saxton, The New York Times Book Review A fact-filled, copiously illustrated, revealing survey of Yankee life and households in an earlier time, . . . informative and valuable for its many glimpses of American interiors."-Kirkus Reviews "A delightfully intimate portrayal of New England home life. . . . Enlivened by 162 period illustrations, [Nylander's] survey affords a rare glimpse of middle- and upper-class housework, clothing, kitchens, diet, socializing and much else."-Publishers Weekly A century-long portrait of day-to-day activities in a New England home. . . . Nylander's nitty-gritty approach is absorbing. . . . Photographs from various historical societies along with period sketches and paintings add pizzazz and authenticity."-Booklist "A visual and narrative feast."-Robert St. George, University of Pennsylvania