Parades tell us something important about American culture and almost
every place has a parade tradition. The Best Ever! explores this
tradition as enacted in the small cities and towns of New England,
events that at once celebrated the skeleton of the American Story and
amplified both the distinctive regional and the broader national
cultures. Meticulously documented and lavishly illustrated with nearly
300 photographs, The Best Ever! offers never-before-seen pictures of
actual parades, including floats and banners that have mostly
disappeared and ranging from the Federal Ship carried in the 1788
Ratification parade at New Haven, Connecticut, to 1940 when the parade
tradition largely halted at the onset of WWII. Copublished with Old
Sturbridge Village.