National Park Service: The First 75 Years

"There is properly no history, only biography" Ralph Waldo Emmerson

The National Park Service, because of its colorful history and important milestones in world resource preservation efforts, has been a popular topic of writers, artists, photographers, and publishers. Each has a different slant on "how it happened," "why it tumbled in this direction," and "who is responsible." Reading one, or even two, of the books cited below will not yield personal expertise in NPS history. However, each one added to your list of those completed will help immeasurably to understand the growth of the Service and the national park system.

Albright, Horace M. (as told to Robert Cahn). The Birth of the National Park Service. Salt Lake City: Howe Brothers, 1985.

Everhart, William C. The National Park Service. New York: Praeger, 1972.

Garrison, Lemuel A. The Making of a Ranger. Salt Lake City: Howe Brothers, 1983.

Hartzog, George B., Jr. Battling for the National Parks. Mt. Kisco, New York: Moyer Bell Limited, 1988.

Ise, John. Our National Park Policy: A Critical History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1961.

Runte, Alfred. National Parks: The American Experience. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.

Shankland, Robert. Steve Mather of the National Parks. New York: Knopf,1970.

Swain, Donald. Wilderness Defender: Horace M. Albright and Conservation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.

Udall, Stewart L. The Quiet Crisis. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963.

Wirth, Conrad L. Parks, Politics, and the People. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.