America's National Parks and Their Keepers [Hardcover]

'...is certainly the best history of the National Park Service yet to appear. It is a sophisticated work that analyzes the service's inner dynamics as well as its complex relationships with Congress, the executive branch, and the public, especially environmental groups.'Journal of Forest HistoryFOREWORD, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, 1. INTRODUCTION, 2. THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS, 3. THE MODERN ERA, 4. NATURE POLICY, 5. HISTORY POLICY, 6. URBAN NATIONAL PARKS, 7. BEYOND PARK BOUNDARIES, 8. CONCLUSION, APPENDIX A: Background Information, APPENDIX B: Interviews, NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEXFirst Published in 2011. This book is a study of an expanding National Park System; it is also a study of the bureaucracy that shaped it, how it grew, and the stresses it faces. As Dr. Foresta shows, the Park Service is no stranger to controversy and change. One of the Service's strengths has been its pragmatism and adaptability, but current guidelines are hard to come by and the decisions of the future will be neither simple nor easy. This study is valuable not only for its analysis but for the informed, revealing picture it presents of an agency and a system that have enriched the lives of countless citizens and visitors to this country.Professor Ronald A Foresta (University of Tennessee, USA)USFirst edition ? Resources for the Future 1984