If Ken Burns’s upcoming documentary film on America’s National Parks is as good as the book laying open before me, he has another huge winner.

Read Ellis's exclusive Amazon guest review of The National Parks: America's Best Idea: His latest work, American Creation, was published in 2007. His Founding Brothers won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, and American Sphinx earned the 1997 National Book Award. Ellis is a Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. Ellis Reviews The National ParksĮducated at the College of William and Mary and Yale University, Joseph J. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.Īmazon Exclusive: Joseph J.

The National Parks is a glorious celebration of an essential expression of American democracy. And they introduce us to a diverse cast of compelling characters-both unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adams-who have been transformed by these special places and committed themselves to saving them from destruction so that the rest of us could be transformed as well. They capture the importance and splendors of the individual parks: from Haleakala in Hawaii to Acadia in Maine, from Denali in Alaska to the Everglades in Florida, from Glacier in Montana to Big Bend in Texas.

The authors recount the adventures, mythmaking, and intense political battles behind the evolution of the park system, and the enduring ideals that fostered its growth. In this evocative and lavishly illustrated narrative, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan delve into the history of the park idea, from the first sighting by white men in 1851 of the valley that would become Yosemite and the creation of the world’s first national park at Yellowstone in 1872, through the most recent additions to a system that now encompasses nearly four hundred sites and 84 million acres.

The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War.Īmerica’s national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone.

The national parks dayton duncan