Sun City West author Steve Wiegand has a new book “The Dancer, The Dreamers, and the Queen of Romania: How an Unlikely Quartet Created America’s Most Improbable Art Museum,” which will be published Wednesday, April 15 [Bancroft Press].

The book profiles the Maryhill Museum of Art, which is set on a 5,300-acre site overlooking the scenic Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington State, 100 miles east of Portland, Oregon.

Kirkus Reviews describes the book as the “tale of a museum with an unlikely history—and collection . . . A treat for fans of off-the-beaten-track places as well as odd corners of art history.”

Mr. Wiegand takes readers on a tour of the museum.

As the museum turns 80, the book profiles Sam Hill, who spent millions building great things he hoped would make him great as well; Loie Fuller, a girl from Illinois who became the most famous dancer in the world; Alma Spreckels, who used her good looks to snare a rich husband; and Queen Marie of Romania, the granddaughter of both Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Emperor Alexander II of Russia -- the quartet who created Maryhill Museum of Art.

Mr. Wiegand has opened the museum doors for readers to experience.

An award-winning journalist, Mr. Wiegand spent 35 years at California’s leading newspapers. He is the author or co-author of “The Mental Floss History of the World,” “Papers of Permanence,” and three popular books on U.S. history, including “U.S. History for Dummies,” now in its fourth edition.

The book includes a 32-page photographic insert.

It is available for purchase as hardcover or audio online at www.Amazon.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com, or direct from Bancroft Press at PO Box 65360, Baltimore, MD 21209, phone 410-358-0658.