This is a handy book for planning a road trip through the nineteenth century frontier states - North Dakota down to Texas and all the states west of there plus Missouri. I understand what the western writer Wallace Stegner meant when he said he lived in Vermont because it was the state that most reminded him of the old West. When I travel to these states I try to ignore or overlook what has become of them and appreciate the landscapes, flora and fauna but most of all the frontier heritage. Each chapter deals with one of the states and with a sketch map that divides the state into regions and identifies the important cities. The exception is the map of Kansas which shows the various trails that transect the state. This book is not cluttered up with a lot of superfluous photographs. The ones it does have are in black and white. ( )