About the Author

Rolf Diamant is a landscape architect, adjunct associate professor of historic preservation at the University of Vermont, and former superintendent of five national parks including Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. He is coeditor and contributing author of A Thinking Person's Guide to America's National Parks (George Braziller, New York, 2016.) and regularly contributes to the journal Parks Stewardship Forum. In his spare time, Rolf has led small boat trips in kayaks and white-water rafts from Alaska's Brook Range to the coast of New England. Ethan Carr, FASLA, is professor of landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an international authority on America's public landscapes. He is author of Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service, Mission 66: Modernism and the National Park Dilemma, and The Greatest Beach: A History of Cape Cod National Seashore, lead editor of Public Nature: Scenery, History, and Park Design, and coeditor of Volume 8 of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted. Carr consults with landscape architecture firms developing plans and designs for historic parks of all types.

Reviews

"Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.'s extensive legacy is familiar, but this book opens new avenues of appreciation and knowledge. The authors skillfully weave the story of the many people across the country who vigorously worked towards the creation of Yosemite Park, describing a surprising nexus where support for the Union and the abolition movement resulted in passage of a bill setting aside Yosemite and Mariposa Grove, paving the way for our National Parks."--Janet Gracyk "Eden, Spring 2022"

"There are many explanations as to how the idea of National Parks originated. One theory is it spontaneously arose around a campfire in Yosemite National Park. Another is that conservationist John Muir or President Teddy Roosevelt came up with it. But in a new book, Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea, Ethan Carr, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, and Rolf Diamant, a professor at the University of Vermont, argue that the work and writings of Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture, inspired the creation of parks to benefit the public...instead of considering National Parks distinct from urban parks, they should both be understood as part of the same broad movement towards public spaces. And Olmsted was a key figure in advancing this movement."--Jared Green "The Dirt, April 4, 2022"

"Diamant and Carr are renowned for their knowledge of Olmsted and the period in which he lived. Their revision of popular history is compelling... their research is comprehensive and persuasive...you will learn a lot from Olmsted and Yosemite, about American history, politics, and of course, about the extraordinary Frederick Law Olmsted."-- "Garden Club of America, Library Recommends, April 2022"

"Diamant and Carr convincingly make the case that the Yosemite Grant can and should be placed in the context of the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the consequent remaking of government."--John Miles "National Parks Traveler, May 3, 2022"

"This is a thoughtful and nuanced treatise that proposes a new origin story for the emergence of the American park movement that changed the face of the United States and influenced international park practice. The authors met their stated goal to examine the development of the broader park idea both before the Civil War and in the ferment of the postwar period framed by the life and career of Olmsted Sr. As a final enticement to readers, the volume includes the full text of Olmsted's Preliminary Report upon the Yosemite and Big Tree Grove (August 1865). I strongly recommend that anyone with an interest in this topic pick it up and read it."--Brenda Barrett "Living Landscape Observer, April 27, 2022"