A Home Called New England

New England is the oldest and most influential region of America. Although it has changed much through the centuries, it remains a place that even the Colonials may still recognize. Through a collection of photos, illustrations, history, and stories, this book explores the architectural history of New England and how, although it has changed much through the centuries, it remains a place that even the Colonials might still recognize. The book begins with the influence of climate and geography on the architectural choices and follows with the basics of the well-known New England homes--the cape, the saltbox, the colonial--all of which were created to serve the very specific needs of this corner of America, the people, the land and the climate. We look at the earliest settlers, understanding the challenges they faced, and follow their descendants as they convert and adapt the traditional New England home into something still clearly New England but different, newer and, ultimately, even modern. We watch how the people and houses evolve and how they become what are still clearly identifiable as New England--and all over New England, from Connecticut's Gold Coast to the rocky shores of Maine. Sprinkled throughout the story of this evolution are sidebars such as A New England State of Mind and I Live Here, etc… where we meet the quintessential New England personalities and characters, who speak through letters, epitaphs, remembrances, books, newspapers, and others, and hear and see in their own words and images what they make or made of this place and life in it. People who buy this book will enjoy a very visual sense of what it's like to be a New Englander and what it's like to live in New England--whose houses have been copied and adapted in every state, city and neighborhood of America.

Duo Dickinson (www.duodickinson.com), based in Madison, Connecticut, is a noted architect with more than 30 years of professional practice, he has built over 700 projects in over 10 states, with budgets ranging from $5,000 to $5,000,000. He is recognized as a maverick within the profession. He is the author of seven books on residential design. Steve Culpepper hails from redneck northwest Louisiana and graduated from LSU, where he studied English and history, and interned at LSU Press the same year that it published A Confederacy of Dunces, which won the Pulitzer Prize and for which he can take no credit. He has worked in all forms of print publishing in his long career. A former newspaper reporter and editor, Culpepper later worked in magazine and book publishing at The Taunton Press as well as in book publishing at Globe Pequot Press, where he was editorial director. When he's not squinting at words on a screen he can be found either on a bicycle or hard at work on one of his many unending remodeling and home-improvement projects while staying closely supervised by his wife, Kate. Of the four residences the couple has owned, none has been spared Culpepper's obsession with power tools. He and Kate have two sons: William and David: the first a resident of New Haven, CT, the other a resident of Paris, France.