"Dennis Drabelle's The Power of Scenery returns us to the steadier and more aesthetically pleasing ground of America's natural wonders. . . . Mr. Drabelle brings storytelling flair to even the most administrative portions of his narrative. This is a micro-history that feels big."—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
"Come to The Power of Scenery for Olmsted; stay for the cast of characters who lead us—and the park idea—first backward to Charles Dickens and Frances Trollope, whose Eurocentric travelogues expose America's coarseness and provoke a nationalist desire to tout crown jewels of our own. On to Henry David Thoreau and artist George Catlin, who dreamed of national parks in the abstract. Then forward to Samuel Bowles, now-forgotten editor of Massachusetts's Springfield Republican, whom Drabelle credits with salvaging, then ballyhooing Olmsted's lost recommendations."—John Taliaferro, Washington Post
"While today we recognize that national parks have many more values than scenery, the "power of scenery" in the history of national parks is an important and entertaining story."—John Miles, National Parks Traveler
"Drabelle's careful attention to the wider political and cultural currents of the time makes for an astute history that colorfully traces the development of the laws, agencies, and departments that made the National Park Service what it is. It's a great look at the early underpinnings of the American conservation movement."—Publishers Weekly
"Drabelle's account is a valuable addition to the literature on national parks and nicely complements other recent publications in the genre."—James A. Pritchard, North Dakota History
"Drabelle offers a fascinating contribution to the history of US national parks and the biography of Frederick Law Olmsted."—E. J. Delaney, Choice
“Tracing the national park concept back to Thoreau, the artist George Catlin, and even Edmund Burke’s notion of the sublime, Drabelle gives us a vivid portrait of perhaps the most influential proponent of landscape preservation: the ubiquitous Frederick Law Olmsted. This absorbing book is a feast of ideas, anecdotes, and insights and a welcome reminder that the national parks were already a great idea when Theodore Roosevelt was still in short pants.”—Gary Krist, New York Times best-selling author of The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles
“Engaging and entertaining. Drabelle’s stitching-together of the loose threads of American thought that shaped not only Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision of nature and the salve it could provide to the public but also the origin of the national parks is a compelling and inspiring read. The Power of Scenery adds as much to our current conversations about the future of America’s parks as it illuminates their creation.”—Michael W. Childers, author of Colorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement
