The National Parks, Dayton Duncan
The National Parks, Dayton Duncan
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The National Parks
America's Best Idea

Author: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns

Narrator: Ken Burns

Abridged: 6 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/08/2009


Synopsis

The companion volume to the twelve-hour PBS series from the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Civil War, Baseball, and The War.

America’s national parks spring from an idea as radical as the Declaration of Independence: that the nation’s 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 world’s 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 characters—both unsung heroes and famous figures such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ansel Adams—who 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.

About The Author

Dayton Duncan, writer and producer of The National Parks, is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker. His nine other books include, with Ken Burns, Horatio’s Drive and Lewis & Clark. He has collaborated on all of Ken Burns’s films for twenty years as a writer, producer, and consultant. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire. Ken Burns, director and producer of The National Parks, founded his own documentary company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His films include The War, Jazz, Baseball, and The Civil War, which was the highest-rated series in the history of American public television. His work has won numerous prizes, including the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and two Academy Award nominations. He received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 2008. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Roy

One learns that the world, though made, is yet being made; that this is still the morning of creation... —John Muir One of my favorite things about coming home is being near the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, a beautiful wooded area laced together with carriage roads. Having easy, ready access t......more

Goodreads review by Alison

There are two ways to read this book. The first would be a quick scan through, like a coffee table book to browse the beautiful photography and maybe read the short bios and interviews scattered throughout the book. Or, you can read the book in it's entirety and learn the history of how our national......more


Quotes

Praise for the PBS series:

“Stunning and restorative, like the parks themselves.” —The New York Times

“A masterful historic document, a vivid portrait of the land set against the stories of those who worked to acquire it and then protect it against those who still would dismantle or compromise it.” —New York Daily News

“Beautiful and erudite...Underneath its wonder, The National Parks is really about how Americans learned (or failed to learn) proper stewardship of nature.” —The Washington Post


Awards

  • Audie Awards