Book excerpt: Winding over the crests and through the valleys of the southern Appalachian highlands between Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks, the Blue Ridge Parkway offers the traveler a natural spectacle unsurpassed for complexity and grandeur. This book is a lively and compact on-the-spot guide to the region's features, geological history, and natural inhabitants--from its plants, insects, and fish to its reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.