This is another book that found me in the Nook! It's attractive cover showing a retro travel poster style helped to sell it to me. As a native Missourian, I know about The Lake of the Ozarks and have been many times. And, I've been a fan of the author, Bill Geist, whom I've seen doing his humorous anecdotes on TV, especially CBS' Sunday Morning. The subtitle of the book, My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America, tells the main story. Mr. Geist is about 15 years older than me but I'm familiar with much of what he writes, especially the vanishing America part. Much of the early Lake of the Ozarks architecture as been torn done just as his Uncle's Arrowhead Lodge circa 1950s has been. Now, you find a sameness to much of the USA since the interstate highway system was implemented. Even regional differences that used to exist, such as in food and food outlets, have blended together. I loved the book because it recalled in me my youth, my summer jobs, and, for better or worse, how things used to be. I didn't know much about the history of the Lake of the Ozarks and enjoyed learning the details from Bill Geist