Main entry:

Simpson, John W. (John Warfield)

Title & Author:

Visions of paradise : glimpses of our landscape's legacy / John Warfield Simpson.

Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 1999.

Description:

xi, 387 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 369-376) and index.
Prelude: Landscape vision -- 1. Paradise lost, paradise found -- 2. Actions and outcomes -- Forest cathedral -- 3. Designs for a national landscape -- 4. Westward the course of empire -- 5. Landscape: myth and reality -- 6. Pilgrims' progress -- 7. Looking ahead, looking back -- Out of sight, out of mind -- 8. The view from afar -- 9. The view from within -- 10. A tale of two parks -- 11. The greater good -- Time travel -- 12. Widening the circle -- 13. Litigating the land -- 14. The emotional landscape -- Forgotten sensations -- 15. Remaking urban America -- 16. Dream weavers -- 17. America's landscape architect -- 18. City as suburb -- Hearing the echoes -- 19. A last look.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

"[This book] examines the forces that have shaped the American landscape since the Revolutionary War. It begins by comparing the lives of two young men: one a self-made millionaire from Connecticut who moved to the Midwest wilderness in 1803 in search of freedom and opportunity; the other a Virginian taken captive as a child and adopted by the Indians living in that same wilderness. Using their experiences as touchstones, Visions traces the transformation of the Midwest and West from wilderness into an agrarian and suburban landscape as the nation expanded westward."--Jacket.
"Simpson explains how the American landscape is a reflection of traditional landscape values in which land is considered private property and a commodity primarily for functional use. He also shows how our landscape has been shaped by our ideal of paradise. By learning to look beneath the surface, to see the landscape, Simpson concludes, we stand to gain a deep and satisfying connection to the land and to the history it makes visible."--Jacket.

Resources:
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0520213645 (alk. paper)
9780520213647 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Landscape changes West (U.S.) History.
Landscape changes Middle West History.
Human ecology United States History.
Environmental policy United States.
Paysages Modifications Midwest (États-Unis) Histoire.
Environnement Politique gouvernementale États-Unis.
Environmental policy
Human ecology
Landscape changes
Geschichte
Humanökologie
Landschaft
Landschaftsentwicklung
Umweltschutz
Middle West
United States
West United States
Mittlerer Westen
USA Weststaaten
USA

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 204750
Call No.: GF504.W35 S56 1999
Status: Available