USA

by Sara Benson, Lonely Planet

Hit the road for a classic American journey through forests, fields, metropolises and oases. Whether it's day-tripping form New York City, cruising along the Mississippi, delving into the Grand Canyon, or driving the California coast, this definitive guid

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

1216 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lonely Planet produces guidebooks that are useful. This one tackles a country--the U. S. A. Obviously, there are tradeoffs. One gets remarkable breadth of coverage--from sea to shining sea plus Alaska plus Hawaii. However, one sacrifices depth. For instance, Illinois. Chicago gets plenty of space for this volume--well over twenty pages. But there are entire guidebooks that focus just on Chicago. And downstate Illinois has very little space devoted to it. But that is a part of the tradeoff. A person buying this book is going to understand that breadth of coverage is an objective--not depth. And, on those terms, this volume suffices.

Again, take Illinois (my home state). Chicago. Where to eat? The Near North Side? The Billy Goat Tavern (remember the SNL cheeseburger cheeseburger cheeseburger scene? This is based on the Billy Goat Tavern). The Loop? Cafecito and Oasis are recommendations. There is also a listing of places to see, such as the Art Institute, the Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier, Lincoln Park Zoo, and so on.

Interesting features: scenic routes (see page 9 for a listing), including the remnants of Route 66 or Pacific Coast highways; weird and wonderful (including Roswell and the alleged UFO conspiracy); beauty (e.g., the Rocky Mountains); urban scenes. Maps of cities are detailed and useful, although type face can be pretty small. There is a section on national parks, too.

But the main focus is a region by region, state by state view of where to eat, where to sleep, what to do, a little bit about the culture and history. At the end of the book (well over 1,000 pages long, by the way) are discussions of transportation, a directory of accommodations, and so on.

All in all, a useful volume.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Handy, easy-to-use guidebook, if you're able to ignore the typical LP quirkiness. I would have liked a bit more information for my travels, but this cannot be expected from a guidebook covering the whole of the USA.

[Gem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will admit I didnt read the entire book (have you seen how big it is) and I only read the places that I want to visit in America, but it is full of information and the only problem now is that I want to visit many more places. This is a very helpful book.