Purchase
America's Best Idea
Knopf
September 2009
On Sale: September 8, 2009
432 pages
ISBN: 0307268969
EAN: 9780307268969
Hardcover
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction Photography
The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War
Americaβs national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nationβs most magnificent and sacred places should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. 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 worldβs 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 authors recount the adventures, mythmaking, and intense political battles behind the evolution of the park system, and the enduring ideals that fostered its growth. 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. And they introduce us to a diverse cast of compelling charactersβboth unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adamsβwho 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.
The National Parks is a glorious celebration of an essential expression of American democracy.
 Media BuzzToday - December 19, 2009
| 
© 2003-2026