I picked this book up for the first time in a bookstore in the Northeast Kingdom, a year and a half ago. My family has been vacationing in the summers for the past fifteen years [after Squam Lake got too expensive].

My parents got this book for me for Christmas a few weeks ago. In the inscription my mother wrote, "This is the Vermont I grew up in." I just finished reading it at friend's vacation house in the White Mountains.

My mother grew up in Vermont, and has some ancestry there. I would have been raised there, had my father not gotten a job in Massachusetts first.

Vermont has always been both idyllic and iconic to me. I feel as though I share a cultural heritage with Vermont, and have spent time farming and homesteading over the years.

This book was first published in 1990, and the revised edition, printed in 2004, features the stories and portraits of Vermonters from 1960 to 1997. It tell the story of the generations that come before me. Vermont was a very different place the Vermont I've become familiar with.

The two times I've lived in Vermont I've lived in Burlington. These two times are the only times in my life that I've lived in a non-rural landscape, which is one of the reasons I left.

Especially with the Bernie Sanders' recent popularity, I think a lot of Americans get the idea that Burlington is the symbol of Vermont. Burton Snowboards and Ben & Jerry's, other global ambassadors for Vermont, also have strong relationships with Burlington. And yet Burlington in an urban center, when the essence of Vermont lies in its rural nature.

Not one profile in the book covers a resident of Burlington or Brattleboro. There are a few references to Montpelier, the state capital, but that's hardly an urban center.

Not everyone in the book was born in Vermont, but they all exhibit some aspect of a Vermonter [as opposed to the out-of-staters that see Vermont as a nice place to vacation]. Also, Miller notably excludes famous people, as a Vermonter isn't a celebrity.

The story of Vermont of the past fifty years is the story of gentrification. Many people in the book despise this fact, and pine for the good old days. Others are grateful for the economic development brought by tourism [skiing being the leading industry].

I should note that Vermont is also a national leader in the local food and local economic movements. But these facets aren't highlighted by this book.

By no means does Miller narrate a romantic account of Vermont life. A somber tone permeates throughout. In his introduction, he poses the question: was it "the temper of the people that made them Vermonters, or...was it the roughness of the land and the climate that forged these newcomers into such distinct personalities?" For all it's beauty, Vermont is not an easy place.

The book has been more inspiring than I anticipated. There's a certain authenticity to it which we rarely encounter in modern life.

The Vermont that Miller lived is now dead. It's a Vermont I never had the privilege of experiencing. Its myth, and the way of being that such a myth may galvanize, can live on if we keep telling it's story.

As a side note, there is a sister book to this one, "Vermont Farm Women," that is equally compelling. I only started here because it was written first. That's my next stop. ( )

This coffee table book was published in 1990, & on October 27, 2010 I borrowed it from library & was able to read it cover-to-cover immediately. Book contains stories & b&w photos of Vermonters new & old. Many people in book earn/ed living off land, & there's a ballerina, poet, & stage director among farmers, hunters, & skiers. Life in Vt. as elsewhere is changing. Farms disappear when land is sold for development. Heat & electricity for mos. of cold weather with snow are expensive. I like Peter Miller's subjects. -- ( )