# "Then and Now" books, and how I love 'em

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 15, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026 "2002-08-15T14:59:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026/1 "2002-08-15T14:59:14Z")

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The NYT had an article today on a [new book](http://www.custerstrail.com/Pages/books.html), showing side-by-side photos, taken in 1874 and 2000, of some Old West sites.

I have a collection of Then and Now books from [Dover Publications](http://search.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/nsearch?follow-pro=1&vwcatalog=doverpublications&catalog=doverpublications&query=Then%20and%20Now), as well: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, D.C. And whenever I visit a city, I check to see if the “local interest” sections of bookshops have “Then and Now” books (they frequently do!).

Quality control, though: Thunder Bay has recently put out a series of these, and they suck. They’re not written by locals, and the photos are only taken from _approximately_ the same location. Lazy bastards.

Anyone else have a weakness for these books?

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**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026/2 "2002-08-15T15:10:47Z")

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I love 'em, too. My budget for coffee-table books is unfortunately rather low, but they’re always great to look at. I saw one at B&N not long ago that consisted of aerial photographs of the major East Coast and Midwest cities taken over the last 75 years that was just terrific. I especially love to see them for places I’ve lived, just to see how history has worked itself on the area.

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**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026/3 "2002-08-15T15:28:20Z")

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I saw a “then and now” photograph taken in the desert outside Tucson, AZ. It was depressing. The cacti from the original picture were almost all gone (in a period of around 50 years). They had been stolen or otherwise wiped out…no buildings, but no cacti either. Bastards.

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026/4 "2002-08-15T15:51:42Z")

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I think I bought that Tucson book for my sister last time I was in Arizona, **Echo**. Oh, **PL** , those Dover books are actually pretty inexpensive paperbacks. _Dover_ has some great stuff. (No, I don’t work for them!)

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/then-and-now-books-and-how-i-love-em/124026/5 "2002-08-15T15:56:31Z")

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P.S. I’ve been bookfindering for “Then and Now” books on London and/or Paris, and can’t find any . . . The only ones they have are social histories; not actual side-by-side then-and-now photos, like they have on so many U.S. cities. Anyone know if any have ever been done on European locales?