Book Review Extraordinaire!

I found this fantastic book! (Well, actually I didn't. . .Irene brought it to me; it's her November Genealogy Book Pick, but I have to tell you about it now!) The title is Churches and I just fell in love with the pictures. It's not really a book to read, but presents Donald A. Smith's watercolor paintings and Dr. Roy Ward's black and white photographs of community churches in Northeast Georgia. The pictures give the book a historical, social, and artistic significance. American churches are a central part of life in the communities of this country, and the once-familiar buildings are disappearing from the townships of our rural heritage. Donald Smith said: ". . .my primary subjects have been those scenes that represent the simple Southland that I associate with my growing up. . .the decaying cotton gins, the farmhouses and barns, the aging and abandoned country stores and filling stations and the simple country churches." Dr. Ward is a watercolorist also, as well as a photographer. The country churches he finds along Georgia back roads have become one of his primary interests. Many of those he painted in the sixties and seventies are now gone. More interesting, however, is the manner in which the two artists have approached the same subject, as well as the dramatic contrast between Ward's black and white photos and Smith's colorful paintings. I was just fascinated with these pictures. They made me want to travel to the actual sites and see the buildings. But if you're like me and can't take such a trip, you can still travel through these pictures and enjoy each and every building. And what a trip it is! Plan to take it. The book is in the Genealogy Library. Just ask Irene or Ann where it is.