Windmills of New England: Their Genius, Madness, History & Future

With an almost quixotic dedication to his subject, Dan Lombardo has scoured countrysides, seasides and archives in a quest to comprehend the fascinating history and exciting future of the windmills of New England. Combining a fun approach with scholarly rigor, he examines the many ways windmills revolutionized the lives of our ancestors, just as modern wind power is now poised to change local and perhaps even world politics. Indeed, with wind farms now producing electricity at prices that are highly competitive with all other sources - and generating "electrical" controversies in the local and national news - this book could not be any more timely.

Lombardo takes his readers along with him on a journey to the antique remains of wooden windmills to meet the people who care for and treasure them. He introduces us to young apprentices learning to grind corn, artists using windmills as studios, and even an engineer who single-handedly operates a major modern electric wind farm.

Lombardo explores the powerful poetic and literary uses of windmills, their imagery in film, their impact on language, and their place in popular culture, such as in residential and commercial architecture, as lawn ornaments, and as perennial obstacles on mini-golf courses. Along the way, he has collected more than 160 photographs, vintage postcards and other renderings. This invaluable volume is complete with online and other resources, a useful index, and a series of windmill tours to assist readers with their own windmill adventures.