Rather than saying Larry’s essay is a pure reflection on the Idaho chapter of State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, saying that it is a guide that leads readers to understand the history that is behind this chapter would be more reasonable and accurate.
The series, WPA State Guides is the starting point of this history: it is the first series that gathered and edited the information of every state, which revealed how the USA isn’t only what you see in your own hometown or state.
Decades later, State by State is written; it is more interesting, shorter, and easier to understand compared to the “lengthy books named the WPA State Guides”.
In A Panoramic Portrait of America, every author of every state is independent, so every chapter is equally important and interesting, and when we consider that we live in a federal republic of fifty more or less interdependent states with their own governments and laws, we can see that the book is a valiant and accurate reflection of our country.
Look at Idaho! The author never wrote boring, dry, outdated history: the author shown his views on Idaho with the conflicts between the US government and “the Tukudeka tribe”, the author wrote about the natural landscape, and his own thinkings about change (“The history of our planet is one of absolutely relentless change. Everything…eventually goes extinct”).
The most special part of A Panoramic Portrait of America is that it is alive, you can feel emotions and thoughts from it, like a person telling you a tale from their hometown.
