Guest Author - Megan Romer

Monopoly - The Story Behind the World's Best-Selling Game is a great little book that takes a historical look at the game we all love and the story behind it. It starts off with a little bit of the history of the game itself, from Elizabeth Magie's original invention of The Landlord's Game to the game's expansion by the American Society of Friends (Quakers) to incorporate the street names from Atlantic City onto the game board. It also covers Charles B. Darrow's contributions to the game.

However, the book mainly focuses on describing the streets, railroads and sites that have given their names to the game board spaces. The book describes them mostly as they were around the time that Monopoly was being invented.

It goes through the Railroads first. All four railroads were actual lines that ran into Atlantic City. B&O stands for Baltimore and Ohio, in case you'd always wondered.

Then the book looks at the properties, by color group. The "purple group" isn't nearly as shabby as one might've imagined based on their value on the game board. However, the "dark blue" group is just as glamorous as you would've thought, being home to such famous hotels and casinos as the Taj Mahal and the Marlborough Blenheim.

The book is beautifully illustrated with antique photographs and postcards, and shows Atlantic City in a more glamorous and classy era than the current neon-sign-and-big-hair place that it has become. Pick it up and take a peek.