Mission 66: Modernism and the National Park Dilemma
This book deserves high praise and wide circulation because of its intellectual scope and analytical, as well as documentary, content. Ethan Carr's framing of the subject within the broader context of the wilderness vs. recreation dialectic makes the book valuable beyond the immediate subject. Mission 66 addresses an issue that is central to many of us today and one that will continue to be vigorously debated well into the future.(Richard Longstreth, George Washington University)This is an intelligent and level-headed look at the great promise and the great problems associated with the Park Service's Mission 66 program. Embedded in it -- and in this fascinating book as well -- is the age-old dilemma that has plagued our National Parks since their inception, namely, how to make them accessible to everyone while at the same time saving them from those who too often end up "loving them to death.(Ken Burns, filmaker)The book succeeds as an account of large-scale government planning and standardized environmental intervention, a comparison of visitor versus wilderness-oriented ethos, and a solid example of scholarship that both explains and enriches. Carr focuses on landscape architecture, integrating the economic, sociological, and geographic aspects of the changing national park landscape. This volume should be part of every library supporting planning, recreation, land economics, and geography.(Choice)Anyone interested in learning more about our national parks, especially as we approach the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016, as well as scholars of urban planning, suburbanization, historic preservation, landscape architecture, and post-World War II modern architecture, should read this book.... Mission 66 was a huge program and Carr makes an important contribution by examining many of its facets.(The Public Historian)The aim of this well-written book is to explore all aspects of Mission 66 and to evalutate their significance.... [C]hapters on interpretation, architecture, and landscape raise fascinating suggestions on the power of design to reconfigure philosophy.(Environmental History)The book succeeds as an account of large-scale goverment planning and standardized enviromental intervention, a comparison of vistor versus wilderness-oriented ethos, and a soild example of scholarship that both explains and enriches. Carr focuses on landscape architecture, intergrating the economic, sociological, and geographic aspects of the changing national park landscape. This volume should be a part of every library supporting planning, recreation, land economics, and geography.(Choice)