Discover America: The Smithsonian Book of the National Parks

Discover America offers a fresh way to explore the vast pageant of natural and human history to be found in the National Park Service's 368 national monuments, parks, battlefields, and preserves. Linking together better- and lesser-known sites, the book opens new vistas on our country's geology, prehistory, immigration, settlement, and war.
Discover America is more than an information-packed guide to understanding our nation's history. It is also a celebration in words and pictures of the parks that best express the essential character of America. With an engaging, full-length narrative by acclaimed author Charles E. Little and the color photography of David Muench, America's premier landscape photographer, Discover America highlights the parks that convey the full sweep, grandeur, and tragedy of our past.