An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks

Foreword by Jimmy Carter.

In An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks, Kim Heacox—winner of the Benjamin Franklin Nature Book Award, and twice winner of the Lowell Thomas Award for excellence in travel journalism—explores the development of our nation’s environmental consciousness. Heacox depicts the remarkable feats accomplished by dedicated people, from Lewis and Clark and Henry David Thoreau to John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. Delving into original sources that date back to the 1600s, he pieces together an inspirational story peopled with such fascinating characters as young artist Thomas Moran, whose stunning landscapes of Yellowstone compelled Congress to deem it the first national park, and John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War officer who first mapped the Grand Canyon. Enhanced by a portfolio of Ansel Adam’s photography, commissioned in the 1940s by the Department of the Interior to bring the beauty of the parklands to greater public awareness, An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks is a literary and visual treasure. Through compelling text enriched with stunning photographs, maps, and paintings—many of which have never been seen—this volume gives three centuries of American history an original and unexpected twist.