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NPT Reviews of Books and other Material

A collection of book reviews to help you pick the perfect read for your national park escape

Presidents And The American Environment: An Election Primer For 2016

A distinguished historian of the New Deal and American reform, Otis L. Graham, Jr., now offers us a monumental look at the presidency. Nor in preparing this book was he unmindful of the current election cycle. Who will be our next president, and of special relevance, will he or she be concerned about the environment?

Exceptional Mountains: A Cultural History Of The Pacific Northwest Volcanoes

One reviewer described this book, as, “…why and how we have sanctified these high-altitude mountains.” However O. Alan Weltzien’s fine effort also casts some wonderful light on aspects of the national parks and National Park Service that are very pertinent to this, the Park Service’s centennial year.

Rhythm Of The Wild: A Life Inspired By Alaska’s Denali National Park

Kim Heacox has a long history with Denali National Park, beginning in 1981 when he was a rookie interpretive ranger. Rhythm of the Wild is a memoir, describing how Denali National Park has influenced him over three decades during which he experienced the park as a ranger, as a visitor, and as a writer-in-residence.

Wrecked In Yellowstone: Greed, Obsession, And The Untold Story Of Yellowstone's Most Infamous Shipwreck

A few years back, Editor Kurt Repanshek and I had an opportunity to tag along on a research boat headed across Yellowstone Lake. I remember it vividly, because on the way back an afternoon mountain storm whipped up some foamy whitecaps and our boat started to look pretty small for such a big lake (it covers 136 square miles, at an altitude of 7,700 feet).

Coyote America: A Natural And Supernatural History

Coyotes are everywhere in the continental United States despite nearly a century and half of determined efforts to destroy them. The more concerted the effort to trap, shoot, and poison them, the greater their range and their numbers. Next to the wolf, environmental historian Dan Flores writes, the coyote has been and is the most hated, persecuted, and misunderstood member of America’s wildlife community. It has not always been so.

King Sequoia: The Tree That Inspired A Nation, Created Our National Park System, And Changed The Way We Think About Nature

One of my favorite spots in California, just a few miles away from the congestion of the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, is a little known forest glen: Nelder Grove. A century ago this was a logging site, formerly named Fresno Grove, where the towering Sequoias crashed to the ground, to be cut up for grape stakes and fence posts. Massive stumps dot the quiet, verdant hillside, and some giants yet still stand. I always asked myself why, and how, this grove fell, while others went untouched, and were protected.

The Hour Of Land: A Personal Topography Of America’s National Parks

Anyone who has heard Terry Tempest Williams speak or who has read her writing knows how personal her approach is to her subject, thus the “personal topography” of the subtitle of this book. Visits to 12 units of the National Park System, including seven national parks, two national monuments, a national military park, national seashore, and national recreation area, provide grist for her exploration of this topography and a sampling of different elements of the system.

Yellowstone Ranger

There are more than a few new books out this year revolving around national parks, and the one that has provided the most wonderment and joy tied to rangering has been Yellowstone Ranger by Jerry Mernin, who spent more than three decades patrolling the front and backcountry of Yellowstone National Park and left us with insights, hardships, humor, and great satisfaction from a career that left him wishing he could have had "another 32 years to work in Yellowstone."

Creating Acadia National Park: The Biography Of George Bucknam Dorr

While George Bucknam Dorr had the wherewithal to travel extensively about the world and do anything with his life, he came to cherish the landscape of Mount Desert Island along coastal Maine. It was a lifelong connection spurred by childhood vacations on the island, one that spawned a tireless, and selfless, campaign to both conserve the island’s landscape and, more importantly, see it included within the National Park System.

Sea Of Sand, A History Of Great Sand Dunes National Park And Preserve

There is an inland sea of sand that relatively few people realize exists. While the sand dunes of Death Valley National Park are fairly well-known, and most people are aware of the sand dunes at our national seashores, the towering dunes of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado are unknown to most.

Forests, Alligators, Battlefields: My Journey Through The National Parks Of The South

For Danny Bernstein, retirement is best enjoyed by following a path through the woods, or a tour through a unit of the National Park System. Whether the park is focused on history, or culture, or natural beauty doesn't matter. For Ms. Bernstein, being in the park system and enjoying and learning from it is what matters.

A Weird And Wild Beauty: The Story Of Yellowstone, The World's First National Park

Erin Peabody has crafted a book on Yellowstone National Park that follows a common path in telling the story of how the world's first national park came about, but which through her deep research and colorful writing rises as an entertaining and informative work that deserves a space on every park lover's bookshelf.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.