By Rob Stout
Enquirer Contributor

99 Historic Homes of Indiana

Photographs by Marsh Davis, text by Bill Shaw (Indiana University; $39.95). The most compelling large-format architecture books are those with the best photographs, and this collection is no exception. Mr. Davis features some of his best exterior and interior work to provide a broad cross-section of styles, from Greek revival mansions to Arts and Crafts bungalows. The accompanying narrative keeps this above standard coffee table fare.

The Holocaust in Salonika: Eyewitness Account

Edited by Steven Bowman, translated by Isaac Benmayor (Bloch; $19.95). Once considered the "Jerusalem of the Balkans," Salonika was home to a vibrant community of Jewish merchants and traders that came to an end with the Nazi occupation during 1941. The fate of Salonika's Jews is largely undocumented. Now, Mr. Bowman (a University of Cincinnati professor) and Mr. Benmayor have assembled the journals of three eyewitnesses who chronicle the experience with moral intelligence and somber grace.

A Convent Tale: A Century of Sisterhood in Spanish Milan

By P. Renee Baernstein (Routledge; $27.50). Within the dusty confines of an Italian manuscript library, Ms. Baernstein (a Miami University professor) discovered an old riddle. During the religious swirl of the 16th century the nuns of San Paulo were confined by forces loyal to the Inquisition. Following their imprisonment behind convent walls, they emerged radically altered. The transformation and its results are passionately detailed.

Building Ohio: A Traveler's Guide to Ohio's Rural Architecture

By Jane Ware (Orange Frazer; $22). Ms. Ware continues her inventory of Ohio architecture with a detour into small towns and rural routes. Central to this volume are the courthouses, university halls and private homes inspired by the confident, prosperous decades of the early 20th century. Like the preceding volume, the guide is amply illustrated, fits into a glove-box and has driving directions.

Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century

By Charles Slack (Theia; $24.95). This latest in a recent line of industrial history-biography hybrids tells a familiar tale: an obsessed and misunderstood genius struggles with a concept few can conceive and, after staving off rival inventors, changes the world. The genius is Goodyear, his rival is Hancock and the concept is "vulcanization," the treatment applied to rubber prior to commercial and industrial use. Ultimately, it is Goodyear's name that goes on the blimp, and Mr. Slack tells how in an engaging style.

- Rob Stout