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Preserving the Living Past

John C. Merriam's Legacy in the State and National Parks
by Steve Mark (Author)
Hardcover
Price: $85.00 / £71.00
Publication Date: Mar 2005
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 219
ISBN: 9780520241671
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 23 b/w illustrations scattered, 4 maps
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About the Book

From his efforts to protect California's wild lands—including the state's majestic redwoods and its dynamic coastline—to his novel ideas about the educational and inspirational value of wilderness that continue to provoke debates to this day, this first biography of John C. Merriam (1869-1945) tells the story of the prominent paleontologist who became a visionary in the American conservation movement.

About the Author

Stephen R. Mark is a historian with the National Park Service as well as Adjunct Professor of History at the Oregon Institute of Technology. He is the author of Floating in the Stream of Time: An Administrative History of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (1996).

Table of Contents

Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Beyond Scenic Voyeurism
1. Why Save the Redwoods?
2. To Berkeley and Beyond
3. Paleontologist of the Far West
4. An Upward Trajectory
5. Redwoods and Research
6. Interpreting the National Parks
7. A Voice for Wilderness
8. Building State Parks
9. What Nature Means
Notes
Further Reading
Index

Reviews

“This remarkable volume succeeds on many levels....This book will soon be a classic in environmental history. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the genesis of using parks to preserve natural resources,as well as those interested in the personalities and relationships that tied science to parks, national and state.”
— Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries
"Steven Mark is to be congratulated for capturing the essence of Merriam and that original America, the one that in giving rise to conservation believed in parks as the nation’s soul."—Alfred Runte, author of National Parks

"Merriam’s role in the evolution of early 20th Century American conservation thinking is not as well understood as it should be."—Keir B. Sterling, Senior Editor of the Biographical Dictionary

"We need to hear and heed John C. Merriam's voice, calling for education, inspiration, and spiritual contact to be paramount in the administration of our natural preserves."—Michael Frome, author of Battle for the Wilderness