Book excerpt: The absorbing vintage photographs brought together in Vanishing Georgia recall life in the state from halfway through the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. Pictured here are both great events and commonplace occurrences: Atlanta in the wake of Sherman's march and a small town bedecked in flags on the Fourth of July; paddlewheelers loaded with barrels of turpentine and proud owners of new automobiles; a get-together with neighbors for a corn shucking and a crowd straining to hear the last words of a convicted man. Vanishing Georgia is an engaging entree into the state's vast and varied history, a treasure for both casual browsers and serious scholars.