The Eastern States Agricultural and Industrial Exposition was founded more than a century ago to "promote the agricultural and industrial development of the eastern states." Held at the fairgrounds in West Springfield, Massachusetts, the inaugural event was the National Dairy Show in 1916, followed by what would become known as "The Big E," the combined "state fair" of the six New England states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Weathering floods, hurricanes, the Great Depression, and two world wars, it is currently one of the largest fairs in North America, with an attendance of over 1.3 million fairgoers in 2015. With photographs spanning the past century from exposition archives, area residents, and his own collection, author David Cecchi presents a fascinating visual history of what he refers to as "the fair."

The Eastern States Agricultural and Industrial Exposition was founded more than a century ago to "promote the agricultural and industrial development of the eastern states." Held at the fairgrounds in West Springfield, Massachusetts, the inaugural event was the National Dairy Show in 1916, followed by what would become known as "The Big E," the combined "state fair" of the six New England states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Weathering floods, hurricanes, the Great Depression, and two world wars, it is currently one of the largest fairs in North America, with an attendance of over 1.3 million fairgoers in 2015. With photographs spanning the past century from exposition archives, area residents, and his own collection, author David Cecchi presents a fascinating visual history of what he refers to as "the fair."

After World War II, Nat King Cole romanticized Route 66 with his wonderfully melodious voice. Route 66 was a transcontinental highway that traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles. Today, Route 66 is no more. Can today’s traveler drive across the country on a two-lane highway and recapture the romance that Nat sang about half a century ago? It is possible! U.S. 20 begins in Boston and travels through the heartland, 3,365 miles, to Newport, Oregon. Its journey takes the traveler through a myriad of towns and places to explore. Through the Heartland on U.S. 20: Massachusetts relates the development of the road, each town’s historic events, people of renown who lived there, even the infamous, things to do and see, and the towns’ best restaurants. An exciting adventure awaits the reader as he or she travels through Massachusetts on U.S. 20.