The Power of Scenery: Frederick Law Olmsted and the Origin of National Parks - Paperback

Featured in the Wall Street Journal's 2021 Holiday Gift Books Guide
2021 Marfield Prize Finalist

Olmsted saw city parks as vital to the pursuit of happiness and wanted them to be established for all to enjoy. When he wrote down his philosophy for managing Yosemite, a new and different kind of park, he had no idea that he was creating a visionary blueprint for national parks to come. Dennis Drabelle provides a history of the national park concept, adding to our understanding of American environmental thought and linking Olmsted with three of the country's national treasures. The Power of Scenery tells the fascinating story of how the national park movement arose, evolved, and has spread around the world.