Frederick Law Olmsted and the Origin of National Parks
October 25, 2021
Drabelle, an editor at the Washington Post Book World unpacks the founding of the national parks in this fascinating history (after Mile-High Fever). The idea that the state had a duty to safeguard untamed expanses of wilderness was created and driven, Drabelle writes, by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Things began with a report Olmsted wrote in 1865 for the newly created Yosemite Valley state park. In it, Olmsted expounded a democratic vision for the preservation and enjoyment of natural landscapes that were then being "discovered" (by non-native people). Americans, Olmsted thought, needed "to disarm their calculating and scheming powers" in the "nonutilitarian enjoyment of wild nature." He presented this paper to commissioners, junketeers, and politicians, and, after years of advocacy, in 1872, Yellowstone became the first national park. This was followed by Mackinac National Park in Michigan three years later (since reclassified as a state park) and Banff in Canada in 1885. 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.
November 1, 2021
Drabelle (Mile-High Fever; The Great American Railroad War) writes a history of U.S. national parks that particularly considers the role of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903; the landscape architect best known for designing New York's Central Park and for his impact on the urban planning of other major urban parks). In 1863, Olmsted visited California's Yosemite Valley, and was appointed to manage the site the following year. His 1865 Yosemite report defined the values of the park, Drabelle writes, and his ideas about the preservation of natural scenic areas helped shape the development of the national parks movement. Drabelle contends that Olmsted understood the concept of the national park as a means for the country to seek character and self-definition. He traces these ideas through a thoroughly researched narrative that examines 20th-century naturalism and three sites: Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Niagara Falls State Park. While the book's focus is on Olmsted, Drabelle also considers the historical creation of U.S. national parks, including their impacts on Indigenous peoples, who have often been displaced from their ancestral lands by the establishment or expansion of national parks. VERDICT A book for lay readers curious about how natural wonders became manmade attractions.--Elissa Cooper, Helen Plum Memorial Lib., Lombard, IL
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