America's yesterdays: Images of our lost past discovered in the photographic archives of the Library of Congress

It's truly wonderful to see such a vast collection of high quality snapshots of America's past. This collection from the files of the Library of Congress makes the viewer of the book feel like they were really there when the photographs were taken. My own feeling for the pictures was that they were like the source material for the "Saturday Evening Post's" legendary illustrator Norman Rockwell. The photographs are simply amazing, extraordinary, and in some cases almost unbelievable. Maybe they are too nostalgic, but they also capture some of the less flattering parts of American History. Take for instance the surreal double-page spread of a 1925 Ku Klux Klan parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. It was taken near the White House and the U.S. Capital dome is clearly visible in the background. What makes it surreal is that thousands of people are watching an endless river of Klansman dressed in white sheets marching 40 across waving flags and accompanied by their own marching bands. The river of white flowed the entire length between the White House and Capitol. The KKK members in the parade numbered more than 40,000. Gawking parade viewers filled the sidewalks twenty rows deep and stared in disbelief of what they were seeing in the land of the free.