I picked this up after reading the author's previous work [b:A Fame Not Easily Forgotten|22591257|A Fame Not Easily Forgotten|June Westphal|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434550950s/22591257.jpg|42072109]. That work covered just the early history of Eureka Springs, while this one purported to cover the entirety of the city's history up to its publication in 2012. The delivery didn't quite match the promise.

It does cover more of the prehistory of the area, going into the geologic ages of the underlying rock and the prehistory of the native peoples, but once it gets past the early history of the city it gets rather sparse and selective, focusing more on the "healing waters" aspect and less on the "city" aspect. So, we get a lot of attention on attempts to clean up the springs, but the period of the late 40s to early 50s when the Chicago mob treated the area as a vacation spot is mostly skipped over.

You'd think that the average reader might find that last bit kind of interesting.

At least, unlike the author's previous work, there's at least acknowledgment that the alleged healing properties of the springs might be questioned

So, a decent addition to a history of the area, but the boosterism of the author seems to have colored the final work.