Hunter Travel Guides Catskills: Alive! (The Catskills Alive!)

Francine Silverman's The Catskills Alive!, now in its second printing, brings the vivid mountain area of Southern New York to life for the casual or more discerning reader. The guidebook's narrative is interlaced with nostalgia, pointing out the great vitality of the Catskills in the 1950s and the current local proprietors' efforts to revive a somewhat ailing economy.

The Catskills Alive! is divided into chapters of the four counties spanning across the Catskills region. Silverman dedicates two entire sections to the numerous campgrounds and farm markets available there.

The Catskills Alive! is a great guide to have for an area whose advertising signs misrepresent what is still in business and what is not. Silverman has a rock-solid grasp on her subject matter as she sheds light on the history of grandiose hotels
which have since been razed. In the case of the Leibowitz's Pine View Hotel, for example, the building has been turned into a correctional facility. These little facts make her book an easy and interesting read.