WESTERN DESIGN BOOK

For the Europeans who explored and settled the Americas in several waves beginning in the 15th century, going west held a special meaning: the promise of a new life, of escape from poverty and persecution, of fortunes to be made. For Americans, westward expansion has meant something similar-the freedom to reinvent themselves and the way they lived. Not surpris-ingly, when we think of what it signifies to be an American, the West in all its glory and pageantry often springs to mind.

Western Design is a beautifully illustrated book that brings together the multitude of styles in the West's architecture, interior design, fur-nishings, and arts and crafts. It is a testament to Americans' feelings and thoughts about the West and to the stylistic influences that have shaped western homes and the things in them.

Never has an area benefited so variously— or so fittingly-from the design and artistic traditions of virtually every other country in the world. Western Design catalogs this inheritance, at the same time paying tribute to the effect of the West's raw beauty on American arts and crafts. The book also explores Native American influences on home building, decorating, and the fine arts.

Following an informative introduction covering the settlement of the West, the book devotes a chapter to the basic elements of western design. If anything, it's a style "born of the land." Lodgepole pine, wagon wheels, saddles, blankets, and simple baskets and pottery of old find new uses today-in finely crafted furniture, as wall art, as accessories for every room of the house. The freedom to reinvent: It is as important to Americans' sense of design as it is to their sense of themselves.