Windshield Wilderness: Cars, Roads, and Nature in Washington's National Parks

Louter, David

ISBN 10: 029599021X / ISBN 13: 9780295990217

Published by University of Washington Press, 2010

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G029599021XI4N00

Synopsis:

In his engaging book Windshield Wilderness, David Louter explores the relationship between automobiles and national parks, and how together they have shaped our ideas of wilderness. National parks, he argues, did not develop as places set aside from the modern world, but rather came to be known and appreciated through technological progress in the form of cars and roads, leaving an enduring legacy of knowing nature through machines.

With a lively style and striking illustrations, Louter traces the history of Washington State’s national parks ― Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades ― to illustrate shifting ideas of wilderness as scenic, as roadless, and as ecological reserve. He reminds us that we cannot understand national parks without recognizing that cars have been central to how people experience and interpret their meaning, and especially how they perceive them as wild places.

Windshield Wilderness explores what few histories of national parks address: what it means to view parks from the road and through a windshield. Building upon recent interpretations of wilderness as a cultural construct rather than as a pure state of nature, the story of autos in parks presents the preservation of wilderness as a dynamic and nuanced process.Windshield Wilderness illuminates the difficulty of separating human-modified landscapes from natural ones, encouraging us to recognize our connections with nature in national parks.

About the Author:

David Louter is a historian with the National Park Service in Seattle, Washington.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Windshield Wilderness: Cars, Roads, and ...
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication Date: 2010
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket