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Loading... The Making of the National Parks, an American Ideaby Kim Heacox
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In these lavishly illustrated pages, award-winning author Kim Heacox chronicles our changing visions of wildness from the 17th century, when the first settlers built towns around shared commons, to 1916, when the National Park Service initiated a new kind of common-unspoiled parkland held in trust for Americans everywhere. Here are explorers like Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, and John Wesley Powell, who reported wonders so amazing they were met with disbelief. Here too are farsighted leaders like Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and other sponsors of such parks as Yosemite and Yellowstone. In spectacular counterpoint, 100 illustrations unveil a pristine new world that awed the artists and photographers from Eadweard Muybridge to Ansel Adams. An epilogue summarizes developments since 1916, and an appendix provides descriptions of every national park. A tale of discovery and an eloquent testament to our unparalleled natural glories, this is more than an account of our national parks: it's a telling portrait of the essential America. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)333.78Social sciences Economics Economics of land & energy Land, recreational and wilderness areas, energy Recreational and wilderness areasLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.7)
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Wikipedia in English
1
Struck with the vulnerability of the wilderness after watching the slaughter of bison for money and with the westward expansion of pioneers clearing land for cultivation, Catlin hit on a solution to the problems observed. Catlin wrote, “Why could not the Indian, the buffalo, and their wild homeland be protected in a magnificent park…to preserve… [for] future ages! A nation’s Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild freshness of their nature’s beauty.” In simple words which conveyed a novel concept, the former portrait painter, turned adventurer, spawned an idea which came to fruition some forty years later in the form of Yellowstone Park, out nations’ first National Park.
The story moves from 17th century settlers through 1916 with the formation of our National Park Service. Along the way we learn new tales about familiar names like Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, John Wesley Powell, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Henry David Thoreau, Ansel Adams, and John Muir. Over 175 paintings and photographs from wilderness artists, some familiar and some not, serve to preserve history and enhance the story of our National Parks which have grown to today’s number of fifty.
Whether a student of history, political science, nature, wildlife, painting, photography, or simply an arm-chair traveler, the reader will not be disappointed when spending a few minutes or a few hours with former park ranger and award-winning author Kim Heacox and his book, An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks. [Library call number 917.3 HEACOX, Reviewed by Jennifer Tice]
Reviewed by Jen