About the Author: Wayne P. Anderson
After retiring as professor emeritus in psychology from University of Missouri-Columbia, Wayne Anderson, Ph.D., began working for the Columbia Daily Tribune in 1998 as a correspondent writing about his travel adventures. His weekly travel column, "Venture Bound," explores attractions available to tourists nationally and internationally as he had lived in Europe while teaching for the U.S. Air Force for several years. Longer reports focused on his 26 trips from 1995 to 2010 to international trauma areas with a non-profit humanitarian foundation. His blog, presently focuses on his writings about American Indian sites and museums dedicated to presidents of the United States. His previous books include Offbeat Travel: Exploring the Unexpected and Mysterious, The Changing Face of Sex, and Christina's Saga: From Norway to Dakota Territory, a novelized account based on his grandmother's struggles as an immigrant.
Wayne's wife of 60 years, Carla Lee Anderson, Ph.D., a re- tired psychologist and former English teacher, has joined him sometimes as co-writer, and always as editor. Living History Museums: Travels into America's Past is their latest project. They have four daughters and six grandchildren who have accompanied them on many trips, much to everyone's delight—at least most of the time—for which Wayne and Carla wish to express their appreciation.
ANOTHER VENTURE BOUND BOOK!
Whether you are seeking a new travel adventure, enjoy immersing yourself in history with a light touch, or are just looking for a good tale, the Andersons' first volume of Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites will be a satisfying reading experience.
When you delve into the pages of this book, you'll find yourself on an investigation of your ancestors' legacy on the different farms at Old World Wisconsin, each originally settled by a Norwegian, Dane, German, Pole, Finn, and a rich Yankee. Discover the Arabia Steamboat Museum near Kansas City and learn the unusual story of the ship which sank in the Missouri River in 1856.
Because of one of the many course changes of the "Big Muddy," the Arabia was later found buried deep in a farmer's field and was excavated with its cargo, a virtual "floating Wal-Mart." In Fort Smith, Arkansas, you'll read of a fire that became known as "the night of the lingerie parade."
Living history museums are an engaging and interactive way to learn about various facets of our vast country's relatively short history through demonstrations, preserved structures and re-enacted events. The Andersons share over fifty of their memorable experiences at these story-telling historical sites.
