If you're looking for the perfect gift for Xmas that gives you all the major and minor details on the legendary Charles Blair Macdonald than rush, DON'T WALK, to get the first rate effort by George Bahto that chronicles the great man's life and the works of art he created.
I got the book early for a media review and once you pick it up you simply keep turning page after page after page. It's totally engrossing and the marriage between photographs and narrative is well paced and clearly researched to the hilt.
The book is printed by Clock Tower Press -- formely Sleeping Bear Press, and although it prices out at $85, the details are so rich and fascinating they could choke a horse. Any golf library missing this book is one lacking indeed.
The narrative is straightforward and contains a wonderful array of sidebars that outline all of the different players of the period and for those on GCA who are fascinated by the "how and why" -- Bahto delivers no less than a Barry Bonds home run.
When you get a clear break down of the holes at NGLA and Yale you get more than you might otherwise. Just when you thought you may have heard it all or known it all -- Bahto goes one step beyond.
I know George is well respected by many and this book, in my opinion, gives the golfer who loves architecture a tour de force effort. It is a MOST read for anyone who wants to know more about golf's past and how the past plays such a major role among a number of contemporary designs today.
Well done George -- I believe the ole man himself would approve.
