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Past Tents: The Way We Camped

Susan Snyder

128 pp (9 x 8), with 108 b&w images
Trade Paper, ISBN: 1-59714-039-2, $17.95

Published in collaboration with the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

From the award-winning author of Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly comes this lighter look at Americans’ infatuation with the great outdoors. Mining once again the vast archives at the Bancroft Library, Susan Snyder has mapped out this cheeky yet accurate history of camping in the West.

Full of photographs and descriptions of family outings in the first years of the automobile, of campgrounds and campfires against the familiar backdrop of the Sierra Nevada, of the remarkable gear and “helpful” hints that accompanied outings to our newly minted state and national parks and forests, Past Tents is a humorous romp through one of our favorite pastimes. Easy to pick up, hard to put down, it’s the perfect gift for anyone who’s ever been in the thrall of redwoods, s’mores, and Smokey the Bear.

About the Editor:

Susan Snyder worked as a teacher, illustrator, and Japanese language interpreter before landing as the head of Access Services in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has spent ten years as a lucky denizen of its stacks, foxholes, attics, and moats. She is the author of Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly, also available from Heyday Books.