Jeffrey Simpson, a lifelong Chautauquan, uses evocative photographs to show how Chautauqua developed from an educational haven for Sunday-school teachers to a world-famous center for the arts. As the community's tents were replaced by fanciful Victorian houses, its programs expanded to include a full-scale resident symphony orchestra, an opera company, dance and theater programs, an art school, and lectures by speakers of world renown -- including nine American presidents.

A National Historic Landmark, Chautauqua is also a model for contemporary planned communities. This book allows everyone to share in what Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a frequent visitor, has called "a good world where beauty and reason come together."