Writings on landscape, culture, and society

Contains primary source documents. Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is most often remembered as America's preeminent landscape architect-a profession he named, helped to define, and elevated into an art form in beloved parks and public spaces, among them New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Biltmore Estate, and Boston's "Emerald Necklace." But landscape design was just one outlet for Olmsted's extraordinary creative energies over the course of a long and eventful life. As gentleman farmer, journalist, publisher, abolitionist, Civil War reformer, and conservationist, Olmsted's readiness to serve the needs of his fellow citizens embodied the democratic ethos of "communitiveness" that was his lasting contribution to American thought. Gathering over 100 items-letters, travel sketches, newspaper articles, essays, editorials, design proposals, official reports, and autobiographical reminiscences-this volume charts the emergence and development of Olmsted's unique vision of restorative public green spaces as an antidote to the debilitating pressures of urbanization and modern life. It opens with a substantial selection of his early writings, including letters from China when he was an apprentice seaman, an account of his inspirational visit to the "People's Park" at Birkenhead near Liverpool, and many of his perceptive dispatches from the American South on the eve of the Civil War.