When an unscrupulous antiquities dealer hires an archeologist to uncover the origin of an ancient tablet, he sets off a bizarre chain of events: Ten-thousand-year-old mummies are found in a cave in the Grand Canyon. A golden statue is discovered in the Sphinx¿s paw. What's the secret linking Arizona and Egypt? The U.S. Dept. of Defense believes the answer may well put the entire world at risk.

Sasquatch is pleased to offer the illustrated histories of North America's Great Lodges from W.W West. There are hundreds of lodges, inns, and hotels in the U.S. and Canada, but only a handful of historic Great Lodges. Through stunning color photographs, historical pictures, and evocative text, learn the stories of these architectural treasures and the men and women who built them. Partial proceeds from sales of the books go to the rehabilitation of these magnificent buildings.

The Fred Harvey name will forever be associated with the high-quality restaurants, hotels, and resorts situated along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway in the American Southwest. The Fred Harvey Company surprised travelers, who were accustomed to "dingy beaneries" staffed with "rough waiters," by presenting attractive, courteous servers known as the Harvey Girls. Today many Harvey Houses serve as museums, offices, and civic centers throughout the Southwest. Only a few Harvey Houses remain as first-class hotels, and they are located at the Grand Canyon, in Winslow, Arizona, and in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Since 1835, when Ziba Beardsley declared, "The water is as clear as crystal," generations of people have enjoyed this small Illinois city's spring-fed lake. The pages of this book take readers on a trip back through time to learn more about the twin towns of Nunda and Crystal Lake, and their eventual union. Meet some of Crystal Lake's first settlers, and discovered how early townspeople shaped the community. Trace the development of both Virginia Street and the historic downtown district through vintage street scenes. Some of the buildings shown in Crystal Lake were removed long ago, yet others are still standing to serve as silent reminders of the community's rich and proud heritage.

The West is popularly perceived as America's last outpost of unfettered opportunity, but twentieth-century corporate tourism has transformed it into America's "land of opportunism." From Sun Valley to Santa Fe, towns throughout the West have been turned over to outsiders—and not just to those who visit and move on, but to those who stay and control. Although tourism has been a blessing for many, bringing economic and cultural prosperity to communities without obvious means of support or allowing towns on the brink of extinction to renew themselves; the costs on more intangible levels may be said to outweigh the benefits and be a devil's bargain in the making. Hal Rothman examines the effect of twentieth-century tourism on the West and exposes that industry's darker side. He tells how tourism evolved from Grand Canyon rail trips to Sun Valley ski weekends and Disneyland vacations, and how the post-World War II boom in air travel and luxury hotels capitalized on a surge in discretionary income for many Americans, combined with newfound leisure time. From major destinations like Las Vegas to revitalized towns like Aspen and Moab, Rothman reveals how the introduction of tourism into a community may seem innocuous, but residents gradually realize, as they seek to preserve the authenticity of their communities, that decision-making power has subtly shifted from the community itself to the newly arrived corporate financiers. And because tourism often results in a redistribution of wealth and power to "outsiders," observes Rothman, it represents a new form of colonialism for the region. By depicting the nature of tourism in the American West through true stories of places and individuals that have felt its grasp, Rothman doesn't just document the effects of tourism but provides us with an enlightened explanation of the shape these changes take. Deftly balancing historical perspective with an eye for what's happening in the region right now, his book sets new standards for the study of tourism and is one that no citizen of the West whose life is touched by that industry can afford to ignore.