Rediscovering national parks in the spirit of John Muir
By: Michael Frome
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 309
ISBN-13: 9781607814184
Subjects: Conservation and restoration; Description and travel; Nature conservation; Conservationists; Influence; Environmental conditions; Government policy; National parks and reserves; Biography; History
Description: "As a journalist, advocate, and professor, Michael Frome has spent decades engaged with conservation topics and has taken particular interest in America's national parks. He draws on this experience and knowledge to address what remains to be done in order to truly value and preserve these special places. Part memoir, part history, and part broadside against those who would diminish this heritage, Rediscovering National Parks in the Spirit of John Muir, through thoughtful reflections and ruminations, bears witness to the grandeur of our parks and to the need for a renewed sense of appreciation and individual responsibility for their care. In recollections of his encounters and conversations with key people in national park history, Frome discusses park politics, conflicts between use and preservation, and impacts of commercialization. He proposes a dedicated return to the true spirit in which the parks were established, in the manner of John Muir. He advocates maintaining these lands as wild sanctuaries, places where we can find inspiration, solitude, silence, balance, and simplicity, reminding us why we must preserve our national treasures and why we need to connect with the deeper values they hold"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Feet on the ground, eyes to the sky; title: Institutions breed conformity and compliance; title: My friends Harvey and Carsten, superlative park advocates; title: A superintendent's view of park priorities; title: "Politics is the problem, and getting worse"; title: I discover national parks, the parks discover me; title: Parkways, monuments, and memorials are national parks, too; title: John Muir comes into my life; title: No glaciers or geysers in the Everglades, but...; title: Tough to make a living, tougher to say something that counts; title: I become an author; title: Horace Albright : portrait of a conserver; title: Drury in defense of dinosaur; title: Hetch Hetchy again, now in Utah; title: Whose woods these are; title: On becoming a columnist; title: Speaking at Yale; title: The timid, the hesitant, the compromisers have failed; title: "Parks are for people" makes the Great Society look good; title: Building an empire through political patronage; title: Saving the Smokies; title: "Wilderness is my lifestyle"; title: The voice crying in the wilderness; title: Those endless compromises really do not help; title: Fire, changing land into landscape; title: Yellowstoneheritage or Honkytonk?; title: Concession power; title: Charles Eames had a word for it; title: The outcasts felt pain, and found salvation; title: A Christmas gift, anything but small; title: Muir found the icy wilderness "unspeakably pure and sublime"; title: Tourist boomers like action and a good show; title: The scientist who speaks from conscience pays a price; title: The Vail call to arms, unheard; title: "Their labors were not in vain"; title: Could my words possibly make any difference?; title: When a whistleblower "goes public"; title: Citizens challenge the Parkway Center; title: Horace Albright typing on his aged portable; title: The coalition brings its experience to the table; title: Artists and photographers direct us to a sense of place and of spirit; title: Brower, without fear or favor; title: Failing to safeguard the sacred, ancient, and fragile; title: Sometimes rules and regulations are bent and broken; title: Going home.