Refreshingly written, delightfully illustrated book remarks expansively on the resourcefulness of early Americans in their use of this valuable commodity - from the crafting of furniture, tools, and buildings to the use of such by-products as charcoal and medicine. One of Sloane's best books. -Library Journal.

Amateur weather forecasters (which includes just about everyone) will find this volume an informative and entertaining account of the why and how of the weather. -- The Nation
In simple language, Eric Sloane explains the whys and wherefores of weather and weather forecasting -- and does it in a style that's universally appealing.
With humor and common sense shining through in a book that's also lively and informative, Sloane shows readers how to predict the weather by reading such natural phenomena as winds, skies, and animal sounds. This beautifully illustrated and practical treasure trove of climate lore will enlighten outdoorsmen, farmers, sailors, and anyone else who has ever wondered what a large halo around the moon means, why birds sit it out before a storm, and whether or not to take an umbrella when leaving the house.

Amateur weather forecasters (which includes just about everyone) will find this volume an informative and entertaining account of the why and how of the weather. -- The Nation
In simple language, Eric Sloane explains the whys and wherefores of weather and weather forecasting -- and does it in a style that's universally appealing.
With humor and common sense shining through in a book that's also lively and informative, Sloane shows readers how to predict the weather by reading such natural phenomena as winds, skies, and animal sounds. This beautifully illustrated and practical treasure trove of climate lore will enlighten outdoorsmen, farmers, sailors, and anyone else who has ever wondered what a large halo around the moon means, why birds sit it out before a storm, and whether or not to take an umbrella when leaving the house.

Eric Sloane's Weather Book is a fun and easy-to-understand guide to weather and forecasting. Using simple language and a touch of humor, Sloane explains how weather works and how you can predict it by observing nature-like changes in the wind, the color of the sky, or even animal behavior. Filled with fascinating facts and beautiful illustrations, this book is perfect for anyone who enjoys the outdoors, from farmers and sailors to hikers and everyday weather watchers. Whether you're curious about halos around the moon or why birds stay still before a storm, this book will help you make sense of the skies.

This book is about once-upon-a-time in America. -- Eric Sloane. Writer and artist Eric Sloane had an abiding love for America and worked throughout a long and productive life to capture the American spirit in word and picture.
The America Sloane loved was rooted in the simple virtues of our native soil: love of freedom, respect for the individual, sensible frugality, and determined self-reliance -- all of which went to make up what Sloane perceived as our true American heritage.
Nowhere is this heritage more amply portrayed than in the work and ways of the early Americans in our pioneer days. In this book you will listen to Sloane's talk of home and hearth, farm and field, and see all manner of tools, utensils, buildings and rural scenes rendered in his finely detailed and lively drawings.
A visit to America of once-upon-a-time brings us home to a land whose pioneer spirit endures, even amid the rapid and radical changes of our times

This refreshing and delightfully written book underscores the important role that wood has played in the development of American life and culture. Charmingly illustrated with author Eric Sloane's own sketches, the text illuminates with rare insight the enormously varied and useful qualities of wood.
Covering such topics as the aesthetics of wood, wooden implements, and carpentry, Sloane remarks expansively and with affection on the resourcefulness of early Americans in their use of this precious commodity. From cradle to coffin, the pioneer was surrounded by wood. It was used to make tools, fence the land, and build barns. People sat at wooden tables on wooden chairs and ate from wooden dishes. Charcoal, one of the many by-products of wood, was used to preserve meat, remove offensive odors, and produce ink. The bark of various trees was processed to make medicine.
An entertaining, factual, and historically accurate book, A Reverence for Wood will delight woodcrafters and lovers of Americana. It is one of Eric Sloane's best books. -- Library Journal

A delightful blend of serious meteorology and beautiful illustrations, this informative book displays the many talents of Eric Sloane. A writer, landscape painter, weather forecaster, and authority on early American history, Sloane takes readers with him on a voyage of discovery as he traces a single air mass from the Canadian Rockies to northern New England. A vivid narrative and the author's own pen-and-ink sketches describe the progress of the air mass over America, and tell about its encounters with other elements of weather systems and with Americans from a variety of backgrounds.

Refreshingly written, delightfully illustrated book remarks expansively on the resourcefulness of early Americans in their use of this valuable commodity - from the crafting of furniture, tools, and buildings to the use of such by-products as charcoal and medicine. One of Sloane's best books. -Library Journal.

This book is about once-upon-a-time in America. -- Eric Sloane. Writer and artist Eric Sloane had an abiding love for America and worked throughout a long and productive life to capture the American spirit in word and picture.

The America Sloane loved was rooted in the simple virtues of our native soil: love of freedom, respect for the individual, sensible frugality, and determined self-reliance -- all of which went to make up what Sloane perceived as our true American heritage.

Nowhere is this heritage more amply portrayed than in the work and ways of the early Americans in our pioneer days. In this book you will listen to Sloane's talk of home and hearth, farm and field, and see all manner of tooks, utensils, buildings and rural scenes rendered in his finely detailed and lively drawings.

A visit to America of once-upon-a-time brings us home to a land whose pioneer spirit endures, even amid the rapid and radical changes of our times

This absorbing and profusely illustrated book describes in detail scores of early American tools and the wooden and metal artifacts made with them. Informally and expressively written, the text covers bulding tools and methods; farm and kitchen implements; and the tools of curriers, wheelwrights, coopers, blacksmiths, coachmakers, loggers, tanners, and many other craftsmen of the pre-industrial age. Scores of pen-and-ink sketches by the author accurately depict special tools for every job, among them a hollowing gouge, hay fork, cornering chisel, apple butter paddle, boring auger, mortising chisel, a holding dog, hauling sledge, winnowing tray, reaping hooks, splitting wedge, felling axe, propping saw horse, and other traditional implements. Sure to be prized by cultural historians, this volume will delight woodcrafters interested in making their own tools and thrill general readers with its store of Americana.

This book is about once-upon-a-time in America. -- Eric Sloane. Writer and artist Eric Sloane had an abiding love for America and worked throughout a long and productive life to capture the American spirit in word and picture.

The America Sloane loved was rooted in the simple virtues of our native soil: love of freedom, respect for the individual, sensible frugality, and determined self-reliance -- all of which went to make up what Sloane perceived as our true American heritage.

Nowhere is this heritage more amply portrayed than in the work and ways of the early Americans in our pioneer days. In this book you will listen to Sloane's talk of home and hearth, farm and field, and see all manner of tooks, utensils, buildings and rural scenes rendered in his finely detailed and lively drawings.

A visit to America of once-upon-a-time brings us home to a land whose pioneer spirit endures, even amid the rapid and radical changes of our times

What triggers a tornado? What can you see in the eye of a hurricane? What's the difference between a thunderbolt and a thunderclap? Popular author and artist Eric Sloane proves why weather is something best understood by seeing it. His illustrated book shows weather happening. In fact, there's not a sunny page in it--nothing but cyclonic storms, whirlwinds, waterspouts, lightning bolts, and other fascinating, weather-related topics. More than seventy pages of drawings and diagrams make the weather come alive in a book that examines everything from storm mechanisms and cold fronts to the birth of a thunderhead.
A valuable resource for learning more about everyone's favorite topic for conversation and speculation, Eric Sloane--the Weather Wizard--has the countryman's simple and natural comprehension to give substance to his scientific and artistic insights. What especially distinguishes this volume from his other books on the subject is the focus on a detailed treatment of the more spectacular and destructive elements of weather phenomena. His belief is that if this book gets one to look upward more often, it will have accomplished a purpose.

When this book was first published in the mid-1950s, the author was concerned that such functional structures as the American barn and the covered bridge would soon give way to progress and be replaced by modern elements. Today, a number of these sturdy, beautifully proportioned barns and bridges are still standing -- monuments to the skill and keen eye of their original builders. This lovingly written book, accompanied by more than 75 of the author's own sketches, provides a reliable record of those vanishing forms of architecture. Accurate line drawings depict a variety of barns, such as those in Maine, attached to houses; an open log barn in Virginia, and a top hat barn in North Carolina. Covered bridges -- like barns, built for soundness and endurance -- are also illustrated, among them a saltbox structure in New England, a bridge with a pedestrian walkway in rural New York State, and a 10-span-long bridge at Clark's Ferry, Pennsylvania. Possessing a deep feeling for what might be called the Age of Wood, the author writes with warmth and astonishing comprehension. -- New York Herald Tribune Book Review. Americana enthusiasts and lovers of these traditional symbols of early American life will delight in this priceless tribute to a bygone era. Over 75 black-and-white illustrations.

For his fifteenth birthday in 1805, young Noah Blake's parents gave him a little leatherbound diary in which he recorded the various activities on his father's farm. This reprint of an actual early nineteenth-century book provides today's readers with a delightful rarity -- a view of bygone days through the eyes of a young boy. Eric Sloane has taken the notebook with its brief comments and expanded the daily entries with explanatory narrative and 72 of his own remarkable drawings.
Verbal and graphic sketches detail the construction of an entire backwoods farm as well as such common tasks as making nails, building a bridge, splitting shingles, spring plowing, and maple-sugaring. The result is an extraordinary glimpse into everyday Early American rural life . . . [that] will delight readers of all ages. -- History in Review.

The book has a real reference value, but it will also offer ... hours of enjoyable reading. -- Library Journal
From flying kites in early spring to hunting and fishing during the glorious days of Indian summer, author Eric Sloane takes readers through a year's activities as he applies his reverent touch to yet another fascinating aspect of early American life. From sugaring-time, spring plowing, and June weddings, to strawberry picking, weeding season, the fall harvest, and cider-making, his winning book recalls the rustic endeavors of not so long ago, when the time of year determined when a tree was to be chopped down, fences rebuilt, and tree stumps pulled out.
More than 70 of the author's own pen-and-ink drawings charmingly depict cider mills and presses, sleds, pumps and wells, axes, plows, and other elements of America's rural heritage. A section of old recipes and household hints adds additional color and practical value to this delightful book.
Anyone with an eye for antiques and a yen to know America from the roots up will treasure this detailed record of seasonal life in new England. -- Chicago Sunday Tribune

A compilation of engrossing facts and anecdotes vitalized by author Eric Sloane's own pen, this book captures the living legacy of America as seen in the things that were. According to Sloane, American Yesterday explores our national attic of vanishing ways and obsolete occupations. Impressed by the artistry and sturdy realism of pioneer builders, he takes genuine delight in exploring the unique careers of barber-surgeons, dowsers, tithingmen, sawyers, nailers, plumbum-men, and a great variety of artisans, illustrating the activities, customs, and things created by the people who made their living in antique ways.
Sloane, a devoted student of early Americana, speaks lovingly of the people who spent much of their lives creating wardrobe closets, foot stoves, church pew armrests, grindstones, featherbed patter paddles, charcoal burners, English phaetons, giant hogsheads, drovers' sleighs, windowsill sundials, and other items of long ago.
Credited with doing gallant service, preserving records of the ways and the means of the forefathers who got along well with the resources now long forgotten (Springfield Republican), Eric Sloane has written an immensely enjoyable book that will enchant anyone who takes pleasure in reading about the past and views its artifacts as part of a rich national heritage.

From Almanack, Bathtub, and Conestoga Wagon to X-Brace, Yankee, and Zig-Zag Fence, this sketchbook of antiquities revisits delightful words and inventions of old-time America. Artist and historian Eric Sloane presents a wondrous collection of American innovations, including hex signs, ear trumpets, popcorn, and rocking chairs.
Readers of all ages will delight in these illustrated and hand-lettered pages, which feature brief captions explaining the items' origins and uses. Gadgets, gizmos, and contraptions include foot stoves, used in churches and under the blankets of sleighs and stagecoaches, oil lamps fed by whale oil and kerosene, water-wheels, weathervanes, and windmills (first built in Virginia in 1621 -- a century later, there were nearly 1,000). The craftsmanship of the nation's early builders and inventors is reflected in this finely wrought compilation of historical curiosities.

Written with humor and affection, and enhanced with 81 of the author's charming, historically accurate drawings, Our Vanishing Landscape takes readers on a leisurely sojourn through a bygone era. Leading us along rustic winding roads bordering fields and farmhouses, Eric Sloane captures our imaginations as he offers us a guided tour that evokes the America of pioneer times.
This fascinating narrative describes networks of canals, corduroy roads, and turnpikes; tollgates, waterwheels, and icehouses; country inns and churches; ingenious and colorful road signs; and massive snow-rollers that packed snow into hard surfaces for great sleds. Here also are engrossing accounts of toll-road owners, sign painters, circus folk, and other entertainers of the period.
Brimming with anecdotes about people and the times, this delightful, warmly written book remains a genuine and permanent contribution to the field of Americana.

In addition to his roles as a celebrated artist and folklorist, Eric Sloane was TV's first weatherman and an author whose popular books offer fascinating combinations of history, lore, and practical information. The Weather Almanac combines Eric Sloane's Almanac and Weather Forecaster with Folklore of American Weather into a single-volume edition that's filled with fascinating forecasting tips based on wind, clouds, the moon, and other natural phenomena. Sloane relates each month of the year to typical weather conditions, highlighting his observations with 135 nostalgic drawings.
The books of Eric Sloane celebrate the time-honored traditions of early America and their enduring value. A prolific artist, Sloane created nearly 15,000 paintings and drawings over his lifetime, many of which enhance his delightful books of bygone days.

School days, like our everydays, have changed. But the obsolete world of the one-room schoolhouse filled with rough-hewn desks still lingers. The echoes of yesteryear live on in the old-fashioned classrooms that still stand today.
Harkening back to a time when the three Rs actually stood for reading, 'riting, and religion, Eric Sloane's sketchbook explores the history and spirit of early American schools. In this vivid slice of Americana, he tells of when paper was a precious commodity, explains the origins of words such as blackboard and moonlighting, and offers evocative illustrations of New England's eighteenth- and nineteenth-century schoolhouses and their delightfully modest interiors. Filled with insight, warmth, and honest nostalgia, The Little Red Schoolhouse is an enchanting journey into a bygone past.