Long out of print and much sought after bycollectors, Lansden's classic 1910 his-tory of Cairo remains valuable for the early history of the city. Its reprinting here, with a new Foreword by Clyde C. Walton, former Illinois State Historian, thus makes available again one of the finest examples of local history ever written, stressing as itdoes Cairo's im-portant relations with its area and with the country-in Lansden's words, "e;this part of the Valley of the Mississippi-this Illinois Country."e;