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The National Parks: America's Best Idea |  | Authors: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $50.00
Buy New: $24.25
as of 11/22/2009 08:22 CST details
You Save: $25.75 (52%)
New (37) Used (13) Collectible (2) from $16.98
Seller: buzzisme
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 76
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.9
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 9.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0307268969
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.7830973
EAN: 9780307268969
ASIN: 0307268969
Publication Date: September 8, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Exclusive: Joseph J. Ellis Reviews The National Parks
Educated at the College of William and Mary and Yale University, Joseph J. Ellis is a Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. His Founding Brothers won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, and American Sphinx earned the 1997 National Book Award. His latest work, American Creation, was published in 2007. Read Ellis's exclusive Amazon guest review of The National Parks: America's Best Idea:
 If Ken Burns’s upcoming documentary film on America’s National Parks is as good as the book laying open before me, he has another huge winner. Of course the book, entitled The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, is intended as a companion to the film, but as I see it--literally--the book permits the eye and mind to linger over the truly breathtaking pictures in a more meditative way that film does not allow. The result is almost elegiac, producing the same kind of goose bumps that Burns created in his early work on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Civil War. Burns has been chronicling the American experience for over thirty years, and I think it’s fair to say that no one has influenced more living Americans to think about our history as a people and a nation. His dominant themes have been space and race, his persistent question deceptively simple: who are we? I think The National Parks is his masterpiece on the space theme. And the message that kept whispering to me in these pages was that whoever we are has been decisively shaped by the sheer physicality of the continent we inhabit. It never occurred to me before, but Americans invented the idea institutionalized in our National Parks. Namely, as Burns puts it in the introduction, “for the first time in human history, land--great sections of our natural landscape--was set aside, not for kings or noblemen or the very rich, but for everyone, for all time.” As Wallace Stegner once observed, and the book’s subtitle echoes, this may have been “America’s best idea.” Burns links the idea to Jefferson’s magic words in the Declaration of Independence (i.e. “We hold these truths...”), our quasi-sacred text on human freedom, which takes on an almost spiritual resonance amidst the vistas of Yosemite or Yellowstone. Dayton Duncan, Burns's longtime colleague, has provided most of the text, which is designed to cast a spell that matches the wonder of the stunning illustrations. The book looks luxurious and feels expensive, but this visit to the National Parks is a great deal.--Joseph J. Ellis (Photo © Jim Gipe)
Look Inside The National Parks Click on thumbnails for larger images
Product Description
The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War
Americaâs national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nationâs 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 worldâs 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 charactersâboth unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adamsâwho 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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
Great look and read! November 19, 2009
W. Weaver
A book that will not only make you appreciate America's Greateesst natural treasures but give you a perspective that will effecct every nature walk or vacation you will ever take!
National Parks: A Real Treasure November 17, 2009
Cornelius J. Wenthen (Haworth, NJ)
Ken Burns has put together the face of America. He has a knack with the Civil war and Baseball, to see the impact that these subjects have to Americans and all people. Having been to the parks, he has identified the greatness of nature.hHe also sees how it impacts us all. It is truly a Gem!
The National Parks November 11, 2009
L. Greenbaum (Minneapolis, MN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Anyone with a passion for the outdoors, our national parks, or photography will value this superb historical and photographic record of our national parks system. For a documentary, the book reads easily. I found myself wanting to continue reading on and on. I found the book more interesting than the TV series that aired shortly after its release. The photographs range from wonderful old sepias from the early days of photography to modern color images of today. I understand why the parks are not discussed in an orderly fashion, one park at a time - the book covers the development of the park system rather than one park at a time as a travel book might. The perspectives and details of the individuals who influenced the national park system emphasizes how individual people shape our society and make things happen through the influence of relationships. While it would be easier to negotiate the book if it were organized park by park, the impact of the book would be lost. Kudos to Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. This book is a keeper.
the national parks November 10, 2009
Stacey Debaun (rancho cordova, ca)
ordered it as a christmas gift for my sister. received it really fast and in great condition. thank you
 Review for The National Parks: America's Best Idea November 7, 2009
J. Spafford (Idaho)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
The book is a great companion to the series and resulting videos put out by Ken Burns thru PBS, however, I noticed that the whole series was a little "envirronmentalist" in attitude, rather being an objective view on the rise of the National Parks System. For example it totally downplayed the Hayden and other surveys, which actually brought images back to those in the East, who were the main policy makers of the day in favor of John Muir's views. In order to be more objective, all views need to be equally looked at.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
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