Olmsted's America: An "Unpractical" Man and His Vision of Civilization - Hardcover

Hall, Lee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821219987 ISBN 13: 9780821219980

Publisher: Bulfinch Pr, 1995

Synopsis

While Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) stands among America's great innovators, his story is one of both enormous achievement and miserable failure, of public acclaim and official derision. Known as the Father of American Landscape Architecture, he is best recognized for his collaborative work with Calvert Vaux. Together they designed and built some of the greatest parks and public spaces in America, including Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Among Olmsted's numerous solo projects are Boston's Emerald Necklace, the grounds of the United States Capitol and the Washington Monument, and the extensive grounds at Biltmore, the Vanderbilt mansion in North Carolina.
But Olmsted was a restless individual who pursued a number of careers, among them "scientific" farmer, journalist, and commissioner of the Union's Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. He was author of several books, director of the Mariposa gold mines in California, instrumental in the preservation of Yosemite and Niagara Falls - and, by extension, the founding of the National Park Service - and designer of Riverside, Illinois, the first planned suburb. Perhaps his most significant legacy to Western civilization, however, stems from his ideas and plans concerning the importance of integrating everyday life with nature.
In Olmsted's America, Lee Hall presents not just a biography per se but an examination of how Olmsted's particular ideas affected the United States during his time and the important significance these concepts hold for today's world, especially as they relate to nature and the environment.

About this title

About the Author

Lee Hall is senior vice president of the Academy of Educational Development.

From Publishers Weekly

Frederick Law Olmsted (1843-1903) is still, perhaps, the nation's preeminent landscape architect. He was responsible for the design of New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, the grounds of the United States Capitol, the Washington Monument and Stanford University, as well as numerous other open spaces across the country. In 1893, a contemporary described Olmsted as an artist who "paints with lakes and wooded slopes, with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills, with mountainsides and ocean views." Hall (Common Threads: A Parade of American Clothing) demonstrates how Olmsted's liberal and egalitarian predispositions informed his projects. Central Park, she writes, "was to be a democratic institution, a place where people of all classes and interests could meet, share experiences, and appreciate one another." Hall paints a complete picture of this American icon and deftly provides the full social context in which Olmsted worked. Written for a general audience, Olmsted's America successfully animates both the architect and his work. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bulfinch Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0821219987
• ISBN 13: 9780821219980
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288