Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries - Softcover

Smith, Duane A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0870816845 ISBN 13: 9780870816840

Publisher: University Press of Colorado, 2002

Synopsis

Originally published in 1988, Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries is an engaging and artfully illustrated history of an enigmatic assemblage of canyons and mesas tucked into the southwestern corner of Colorado. Duane A. Smith recounts the dramatic 1888 "discovery" of the cliff dwellings and other Anasazi ruins and the ensuing twenty-year campaign to preserve them. Smith also details the resulting creation of a national park in 1906 and assesses the impact of more recent developments - railroads and highways, air pollution, and the growing significance of tourism - on the park's financial and ecological vitality. This revised and completely redesigned edition includes more than 50 illustrations and will be enjoyed by readers interested in environmental, Western, and Colorado history.

About this title

About the Author:

Duane A. Smith is a professor of history at Fort Lewis College in Durango, and is the author or coauthor of more than fifty books on Colorado and the West. He also serves as chair of the Durango Parks and Forestry Board and on the Anima School House Museum Board.

Review:

"Smith has succeeded in writing a book which will inform historians, satisfy park administrators, and titillate the general public."
—Western Historical Quarterly

“...Smith has told the Mesa Verde story wonderfully....Here is a delightful reading about a delightful national park."
—Montana: The Magazine of Western History

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0870816845
• ISBN 13: 9780870816840
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272