Focusing largely upon the origins and progress of city and national parks, this volume examines the history of the physical environment of the United States from the 1830s to the late 1990s. Broad in scope, the book covers a wide range of subjects, including: the paintings of the Hudson River School, which shaped America's image of itself as a sublime wilderness; architect Frederick Law Olmsted's city parks, planned to provide both literal and metaphorical oases in the middle of dense urban zones; the creation of national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite; the construction of the Lincoln Highway, stretching from New York to San Francisco.