Published by W. W. Norton and the American Association for State and Local History. Each volume has a 16-page photographic insert., maps, and a bibliography. Just published: Arkansas by Harry S. Ashmore; Illinois, by Richard J. Jensen. $8.95 each

Bicentennial boredom set in for most of us long before the end of 1976, but there are some Bicentennial projects still in the works that are too good to dismiss. This series of state histories is one. Forty-three of these small, attractive books have appeared so far. The authors are natives or devotees of their states, and have written lively and warm interpretive essays rather than formal histories. By the end of 1978, the series will be complete—fifty-one matching volumes. (Washington, B.C., is the extra one.)