{"product_id":"the-power-of-scenery-9781496220776","title":"The Power of Scenery","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Power of Scenery\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of how the world’s national parks came to be, with Frederick Law Olmsted’s insights and energy serving to link three American jewels: Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Niagara Falls State Park.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Dennis Drabelle's \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Scenery\u003c\/i\u003e returns us to the steadier and more aesthetically pleasing ground of America's natural wonders. . . . Mr. Drabelle brings storytelling flair to even the most administrative portions of his narrative. This is a micro-history that feels big.\"—Sam Sacks, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Come to \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Scenery\u003c\/i\u003e for Olmsted; stay for the cast of characters who lead us—and the park idea—first backward to Charles Dickens and Frances Trollope, whose Eurocentric travelogues expose America's coarseness and provoke a nationalist desire to tout crown jewels of our own. On to Henry David Thoreau and artist George Catlin, who dreamed of national parks in the abstract. Then forward to Samuel Bowles, now-forgotten editor of Massachusetts's Springfield Republican, whom Drabelle credits with salvaging, then ballyhooing Olmsted's lost recommendations.\"—John Taliaferro, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"While today we recognize that national parks have many more values than scenery, the \"power of scenery\" in the history of national parks is an important and entertaining story.\"—John Miles, \u003ci\u003eNational Parks Traveler\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Drabelle's careful attention to the wider political and cultural currents of the time makes for an astute history that colorfully traces the development of the laws, agencies, and departments that made the National Park Service what it is. It's a great look at the early underpinnings of the American conservation movement.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Drabelle's account is a valuable addition to the literature on national parks and nicely complements other recent publications in the genre.\"—James A. Pritchard, \u003ci\u003eNorth Dakota History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Drabelle offers a fascinating contribution to the history of US national parks and the biography of Frederick Law Olmsted.\"—E. J. Delaney, \u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Tracing the national park concept back to Thoreau, the artist George Catlin, and even Edmund Burke’s notion of the sublime, Drabelle gives us a vivid portrait of perhaps the most influential proponent of landscape preservation: the ubiquitous Frederick Law Olmsted. This absorbing book is a feast of ideas, anecdotes, and insights and a welcome reminder that the national parks were already a great idea when Theodore Roosevelt was still in short pants.”—Gary Krist, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Engaging and entertaining. Drabelle’s stitching-together of the loose threads of American thought that shaped not only Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision of nature and the salve it could provide to the public but also the origin of the national parks is a compelling and inspiring read. \u003ci\u003eThe Power of Scenery\u003c\/i\u003e adds as much to our current conversations about the future of America’s parks as it illuminates their creation.”—Michael W. Childers, author of \u003ci\u003eColorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Photographs\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e 1. You Can Have the Arno\u003cbr\u003e 2. Land of the Free and Home of the Sublime\u003cbr\u003e 3. The Counterexample\u003cbr\u003e 4. An Idea in Embryo\u003cbr\u003e 5. The Landscape Reader\u003cbr\u003e 6. How to Sell a Park Bill\u003cbr\u003e 7. In Praise of Diligent Indolence\u003cbr\u003e 8. The Nervous Promoter\u003cbr\u003e 9. Contested Ground\u003cbr\u003e 10. Whiffs of Sulfur\u003cbr\u003e 11. The Man Who Picked Up Stones Running\u003cbr\u003e 12. Saving Gravel\u003cbr\u003e 13. A Shaky Start\u003cbr\u003e 14. Cleaning Men\u003cbr\u003e 15. Going Out with Two Bangs\u003cbr\u003e 16. The Olmsteds\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409230995799,"sku":"9781496220776","price":22.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781496220776.jpg?v=1730506059","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-power-of-scenery-9781496220776","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}