Includes index.

Big pictures -- Seas & stream -- From the mountains to the prairies -- Big skies -- Going to ruins -- City & town -- Where history was made -- Tarnished gems of architecture -- Disposable culture.

This book enables passionate travelers to plan a visit to see rare cultural, historic, and natural places before they are irrevocably altered or even gone forever. Here are one-of-a-kind landscapes, fragile ecosystems, rare bird habitats, places to see the last remaining species of big game in the wild, cityscapes in peril, vanishing cultural kitsch, petroglyphs, and 500 thoughtfully chosen treasures that will inspire and enlighten travelers of all ages. Each entry explains why it has been included, gives its history, the nature of the threat against it, brief practical information on how to visit, and what visitors can to do protect it.