Ansel Adams' Yosemite


Book Description

America's greatest photographer on his greatest subject--featuring the Yosemite Special Edition Prints, a collectible collection of photographs selected by Ansel Adams during his lifetime, yet never before published in book form. The photographs of Ansel Adams are among America's finest artistic treasures, and form the basis of his tremendous legacy of environmental activism. In the late 1950s, Adams selected eight photographs of Yosemite National Park to offer exclusively to park visitors as affordable souvenirs. He hoped that these images might inspire tourists to become activists by transmitting to them the same awe and respect for nature that Yosemite had instilled in him. Over the following decades, Adams added to this collection to create a stunning view of Yosemite in all its majesty. These photographs, the Yosemite Special Edition Prints, form the core of this essential volume. Adams' luminous images of Yosemite's unique rock formations, waterfalls, meadows, trees, and nature details are among the most distinctive of his career. Today, with America's public lands increasingly under threat, his creative vision remains as relevant and convincing as ever. Introduced by bestselling photographer Pete Souza, with an essay by Adams' darkroom assistant Alan Ross, Ansel Adams' Yosemite is a powerful continuation of Adams' artistic and environmental legacies, and a compelling statement during a precarious time for the American earth.
















Guardians of the Yosemite


Book Description

In Guardians of the Yosemite: A Story of the First Rangers, which was first published in 1961, John W. Bingaman provides the reader with a fascinating account of the early days of park rangers, who took charge just as the U.S. Army withdrew from Yosemite. As Dr. Carl Parcher Russell puts it so succinctly, “the precedents and practices established by [the park ranger] were all-important in shaping the protection principles which characterize the present-day Ranger Department.” In the author’s own words, “the purpose in writing this book is to leave permanent records of the First Rangers who contributed so much during their long years of service, and to bridge the gap from the military to the civilian protection and administration of Yosemite National Park. “During the years of my service in Yosemite, from 1918 to 1956, I found there was very little information on the lives and activities of the First Rangers. Some of these men were still in service when I became a Ranger. However, many had died and their records were few and scattered. “In the old days, one would hear the remark, ‘It is a privilege to work for the Park Service.’ It was a privilege for me to serve thirty-eight years in the Yosemite Ranger Service, to be associated with the many fine Park people and the guardians and administrators of the National Park Service whose principal purpose was to serve loyally the cause of the parks.”







Report


Book Description




Pilgrims of the Vertical


Book Description

Few things suggest rugged individualism as powerfully as the solitary mountaineer testing his or her mettle in the rough country. Yet the long history of wilderness sport complicates this image. In this surprising story of the premier rock-climbing venue in the United States, Pilgrims of the Vertical offers insight into the nature of wilderness adventure. From the founding era of mountain climbing in Victorian Europe to present-day climbing gyms, Pilgrims of the Vertical shows how ever-changing alignments of nature, technology, gender, sport, and consumer culture have shaped climbers’ relations to nature and to each other. Even in Yosemite Valley, a premier site for sporting and environmental culture since the 1800s, elite athletes cannot be entirely disentangled from the many men and women seeking recreation and camaraderie. Following these climbers through time, Joseph Taylor uncovers lessons about the relationship of individuals to groups, sport to society, and nature to culture. He also shows how social and historical contexts influenced adventurers’ choices and experiences, and why some became leading environmental activists—including John Muir, David Brower, and Yvon Chouinard. In a world in which wild nature is increasingly associated with play, and virtuous play with environmental values, Pilgrims of the Vertical explains when and how these ideas developed, and why they became intimately linked to consumerism.