($45, Rizzoli) The relatively unknown Thousand Islands is an archipelago of nearly 1,900 islands in the St. Lawrence River on the U.S.-Canadian border in northern New York and southern Ontario. Ever since Chicago railroad car magnate George Pullman invited President Ulysses S. Grant to visit the area in 1872, Thousand Islands has been popular with the moneyed set, many of whom built Americanized castles and elaborate compounds. Those buildings are still there and remain privately owned. This handsome, four-color book captures the houses’ rich architectural details as well as the area’s pristine natural environment. Many of the houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the structures, a 120-room castle, was commissioned by a Prussian immigrant and successful hotel businessman (he was president of the Waldorf- Astoria) as a birthday present to his wife. Another residence is said to resemble Napoleon’s hat. Chicago Tribune
