The Man Who Made Parks is a beautifully illustrated and inspiring book for children. It tells the story of a brilliant and complicated man in words that children can understand. Olmsted's love of nature, his childhood illness, his mixed feelings about school, and the convoluted path that led him to his special place in American history are all described in the book, as well as his triumph in Central Park and much of what came after that. Mary G. Dabbs marydabbs@hotmail.com

The Man Who Made Parks is a beautifully illustrated and inspiring book for children. It tells the story of a complicated man who found his way into American history by way of a convoluted path, but it tells the story in words that children can understand. Olmsted's love of nature, his health problems, his mixed feelings about school, and the difficulties he had finding his special calling are all covered in the book, as well as his triumph in Central Park and some of the highlights of what came after that. Mary G.

Cynthia Zaitzevsky leaves nothing out of this heavily-illustrated explanation of how and why Boston's Emerald Necklace parks were constructed. In addition to the history, she includes draft plans, planting lists, and a full survey of all the architecture and bridges orginal to the park system. After reading of all these accomplishments, you will want to visit the parks to see what remains today.

The best word to describe this book: excellent. It is informative narrative coupled with humor. It depicts the life of the times in relation to different ethic enclaves and commmentaries regarding each area. The narrative is written in a smooth -flowing style that makes for easy reading on what might have otherwise been a potentially boring topic. Young Olmstead's ability to provide such a mature and perceptive perspective on his topics of choice allows us to see how this famous visionary could have envisioned and thereby formulated the most famous landscapes of the USA in later years.

It's unfortunate this is the only hardcover picture book of the Biltmore, available at the time of this review. Because it was the best one I could find, I bought it albeit, reluctantly as I like to have a picture book keepsake when I visit these places. There are many beautiful and often full page colour photographs, but there are also many black and white. Some of the latter are historical, so that is understandable, but others are not. With a predominance of construction pictures and the emphasis on the actual building process which of course ties into the history. This focus veers away from the main objective of a picture book momento, to include plenty of photographs of both the interior and exterior, preferably at least one colour photograph of each room. The estate boasts 255 rooms, and hardly 10% of them are represented. I would like to see this book enlarged to 3 times the size, with about 200 more interior pictures, then Rizzoli, who usually produces outstanding books of this genre, could up the price, but it would be worth it.

I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but as for the pictures, yes it had numerous colors, but mainly black and white. I was surprised. Even pictures that weren't historic were in black and white.

When I purchased this book, I had hoped for a good floorplan of the home, instead I got a little sketch that could hardly be read with a magnifying glass.

Overall, very factual. It makes you realize just what went into the building process. Even if the paragraphs are a little too wordy.

I found this book on George Washington Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, to be extremelly through. This book includes sketchs of many of the considered facades for the home, and what their floorplans would have been.

Pictures of all of the beautiful rooms in the house are included in this publication. Also included are sketchs of the many details of the home, included are the east facade, the Gate House, the gates that set next to the house, the Biltmore Village Church, and sketchs of many of the statues from Biltmore's gardens.

Also included in this book is the histories of many of the principal players in Biltmore's creation, including Fredrick Law Olmsted the landscape designer, Richard Morris Hunt the arcitect, and of course George Vanderbilt the home's owner.
Included is many of the landscape designs of Biltmore's gardens, and beautiful pictures of many of them. Pictures of Biltmore's Conservatory are included which sits in Biltmore's Walled Garden, to the north of Biltmore House.

All in all, this book is great, and a great companion to a day long visit to Biltmore! If you loved Biltmore Estate, you'll love this book, I garentee it!

Witold Rybczynski has made Frederick Law Olmsted's life look a little easier than it must have been. This is largely caused by the laminar flow of Rybczynski's prose. We are swept through the 19th century so smoothly that even the Civil War seems like a mere rock in the stream. I have not read any of the author's other books, but his prose style here seemed to be imitating the sweeping lines in an Olmsted design. In terse introductory paragraphs the broader events of a given historical period are sketched out and then Olmsteds trajectory through them is presented in more, but not great, detail. The result of this approach is to make the reader feel both informed and curious to know more. As other reviewers have remarked and the author points out in his closing chapter, much is available. Olmsted was a pack rat who saved all his correspondence and his legacy was carried on into the middle 20th century by his son Rick, who only retired from practice in 1950.

I grew up near New York City and always considered Central Park to be a wonderful place, even in its worst times through the 60s and 70s. I am lucky enough now to live in a city with three Olmsted-designed parks (they were initiated by the old man, but designed and built by his sons). Their maintenance has been spotty, but they are still beautiful places, and I do wonder if they still have the power to civilize.

To me, a biography is successful if the author conveys both the subject's accomplishments and the influences that helped to shape these deeds. Rybczynski easily meets these standards in this entertaining, instructive study.

Rybczynski spends a lot of time discussing the significance of Olmsted's major projects, like Prospect Park and Mount Royal. The innovations that Olmsted brought to the field of landscape architecture in these projects are clearly laid out for the reader. However, these discussions were not the main point that I took from the book. Instead, I was enthralled with the discussions of the various jobs and travels that Olmsted undertook throughout his life, particularly in his formative years. Rybczynski does an excellent job of showing that these diverse experiences not only satiated Olmsted's curiosity, but also were essential to the development of Olmsted's views on landscape architecture. It is refreshing to find an example of the belief that a variety of experiences are necessary to bring out new talents, enhance existing skills, and create a well-rounded individual.

I highly recommend A Clearing In The Distance for many reasons. These reasons include a concise writing style and a multi-faceted subject. But, above all, the book brings attention to an individual deserving of such study. It is this quality that makes A Clearing In The Distance a "must-read" for not only admirers of Olmsted's works, but for anyone who is interested in the creative development of an innovator in their field.

This book strikes a lovely balance between describing Olmsted's life and personal history and his creations, parks that span the United States.

You may be surprised to learn, as I was, the vast number of projects he undertook. How Central Park was really his first significant project. How he had to fight political and economic battles to keep it from being ruined. How he was able to truly "get it right" with Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

Through the fascinating descriptions of the landscapes, the author also provides great insight into Olmsted's life. What struck me the most was how Olmsted, as with many of his contemporaries (U.S. Grant, Mark Twain) worried for most of his life about his finances and his career.

This is a first rate work, told in a clear and compelling fashion.

Frederick Law Olmstead travelled extensively throughout the south during the antebellum period, as reflected in this book. He considered the effects of slavery on both blacks and whites and found it to have pernicious effects on both. Although written prior to the Civil War, the book (actually a series of extensive selections from the three original volumes based on his newspaper articles written during his travels)provides a rather indepth and refreshing look at well-known history and looks at the diverse roles played by blacks, white southerners, (and northerners!) in slavery. He also examines their views on the slave issue itself: some nascent Southern abolitionists and colonialists, as well as advocates of slavery, appeared rather intelligent and some otherwise. Many considered slavery an insoluble problem and others defended it as a necessary evil which benefitted blacks and whites alike(!). After completing his tour (including a rather interesting situation in which a black slave seriously injures a biracial runaway, has him clapped in irons and sent to jail - much to the amusement of some white southerners - & an enlightening discussion, especially in light of Talty's research showing persons of pure white descent, including adult foreigners and children who were originally indentured were kidnapped or illegally sold into slavery, of how demeanor would be an adequate determinant of whether or not a "white" slave was really free or not), he provides a critical analysis of slavery and its effects on the south.

I have been a great fan of Olmstead's design and outlook. This book provides a wonderful overview of his style, his vision and his ideas about how to create beauty out of the natural enivironment. Architects will benefit from his approach to design and construction and his ideas should be a model for those of us new to the field.