Nature's spectacle : the world's first national parks and protected places / John Sheail.
| Author/creator |
Sheail, John |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | London ; Washington, D.C. : Earthscan, 2010. |
| Description | xi, 347 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Contents | 1 Acts of Defiance ; The utility and romance -- 2 America's Invention ; Yosemite Valley ; Yellowstone ; John Muir ; Saved by the cavalry -- 3 Scenic Reserves ; 'America of the South' ; 'God's Own Country' ; The Canadian railroad-parks -- 4 The Forest Reserves ; State and provincial parks ; The Southern forests ; The United States' Forest Service ; The Canadian forest reserves -- 5 Wildlife Reserves ; The sporting hunter ; Antipodean wildlife reserves ; Canada's 'ample sanctuaries' -- 6 National Monuments ; Naturschutz ; The Swedish national parks ; The Swiss national park ; The National Trust -- 7 Conservation and the American Parks ; The Hetch Hetchy Valley ; Frustrated ambition ; 'America First' ; The Organic Act -- 8 Parks and Empire Making ; The hunter naturalist ; The Kruger national park ; Parks and strict nature reserves ; The George V Memorial Park ; British East Africa -- 9 The Making of a Parks System ; The Canadian Parks Branch ; The National Park Service ; Parks across America ; Parks for purchase ; Parks and road construction -- 10 National Playgrounds ; Tourist development ; Park standards ; Park interpretation ; Naturalization ; Parks' predator control ; Zapovedniki -- 11 Parks as Contested Grounds ; African dispossession ; Rights to the parks ; The right to roam ; Bush walking ; Wilderness preservation -- 12 Parks and the Wider Governance ; The Latin American parks ; The Grand Tetons ; National planning ; Parks and post-war planning -- 13 An Uncertain Legacy ; Rhetoric and reality ; The last half-century |
| Abstract | "National parks have always been an emotive and iconic symbol, ever since the first parks of the modern era were created in the mid-nineteenth century. This book, based on original archival research, delves deeply into their character and significance, and the larger context in which they first developed. The author identifies, describes and reflects upon what caused governments to intervene and establish, in that early modern period, what are today recognized to be national parks. However much they were created as acts of defiance, the parks gave added entrepreneurial impetus to the remoter parts of North America, the overseas territories of the imperial European powers, and of Europe itself. Those of Sweden, Switzerland and Italy are shown to become exemplars of what others might aspire to, while there is extensive coverage of parks in Asia, Africa and Australia as well. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (p. [305]-327) and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Sheail, John. Nature's spectacle. London ; Washington, D.C. : Earthscan, 2010 |
| LCCN | 2009052689 |
| ISBN | 9781849711296 (hbk.) |
| ISBN | 1849711291 (hbk.) |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Joyner | General Stacks | SB481 .S54 2010 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |