A commercial photographer, Bob Schatz has been based in Nashville for over 25 years. His photographs are part of permanent collections at the Cheekwood Fine Arts Center, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Nashville Public Library and the Tennessee State Museum.

Through the lens of his camera, Schatz has captured images such as the blues clubs of Beale Street in Memphis, the glittering Nashville skyline at night (featuring its latest addition, the 'Batman' building), the bridge across the Nickajack Lake (near Chattanooga), the Sunsphere in Knoxville, and the main street of Jonesborough (Tennessee's oldest incorporated city).

One sees the horse farms of the lush Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains; the wild Ocoee River in the Cherokee National Forest; and Jackson Falls, a natural waterslide just off the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Other photos include Carnton Mansion, which can be seen in the background, behind the 1,481 marked graves of Confederate soldiers killed in the Battle of Franklin; and the Carter House, also in Franklin, where members of the Carter family huddled in the basement of their home while the battle raged around their house.

One sees the Lynchburg Hardware & General Store ('all goods worth price charged'), where one can still buy a bottled Coke for a dime, and, on a hill above the store, one of the many barrel houses of the Jack Daniels Distillery, oldest in the country, registered in 1866.

Some of the most beautiful photos are of Tennessee's natural beauty, such as Southern yellow wood sorrel spreading across the field of a Williamson County farm; an autumn view of deciduous trees in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains; Falls Creek Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountans; cypress trees on Reelfoot Lake in the northwest corner of the state; and a gorgeous shot, resembling an oil painting, of an old canoe sitting on the bank of a pond on Montpellier Farm near Franklin.

In all, there are 129 full-color pictures culled from 15 years of work.

The photo on the book's cover shows the rusting roof of a barn framed by the spring green of Water Valley, a view that can be found easily at the Water Valley Overlook just off the Natchez Trace Parkway.

In an Introduction, Tipper Gore writes, 'Bob Schatz has focused on nature, architecture, history, and culture in his unique portrait of the diversity, raw beauty, and eternal spirit of our state.'

One wonders why the photos of this volume weren't grouped in distinct sections reflecting the state's three geographical regions (East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee). And, although Mr. Schatz shows Lake Watauga, in the middle of Centennial Park in Nashville, I was disappointed that he omits The Parthenon.

One easily forgives the author, however, when one views these awesome photographs. Tennessee is indeed a beautiful state... and Bob Schatz's photographic celebration of our state is simply beautiful."

-Roy E. Perry, amazon.com review