Benton Mackaye: Conservationist, Planner, and Creator of the Appalachian Trail

by Larry Anderson

Overview

The life of the visionary conservationist who created the Appalachian Trail is chronicled in this “first-rate biography of a unique American thinker” (Mark Harvey, Journal of American History).
 
Born in 1879, Wilderness Society cofounder Benton MacKaye was a pioneer in linking the concepts of preservation and recreation. Spanning three-quarters of a century, his career had a major impact on emerging movements in conservation, environmentalism, and regional planning. MacKaye's seminal ideas on outdoor recreation, wilderness protection, land-use planning, community development, and transportation have inspired generations of activists, professionals, and adventurers seeking to strike a harmonious balance between human need and the natural environment.
 
This pathbreaking biography provides the first complete portrait of this significant figure in American environmental, intellectual, and cultural history. Drawing on extensive research, Larry Anderson traces MacKaye's extensive career, examines his many published works, and describes the importance of MacKaye's relationships with such influential figures as Lewis Mumford, Aldo Leopold, and Walter Lippmann.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801877919
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2021
Series:	Creating the North American Landscape
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	468
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Larry Anderson is a freelance writer and independent scholar.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction. "Expedition 9"
Chapter 1. The MacKaye Inheritance, 1879–1896
Chapter 2. From Harvard Yard to the "Primaevial Forest", 1896–1903
Chapter 3. The Education of a Progressive Forester, 1903–1911
Chapter 4. Raising Hell, 1911–1915
Chapter 5. Reclaiming America's Wild Lands for Work and Play, 1915–1916
Chapter 6. Employment and Natural Resources, 1917–1919
Chapter 7. Turning Point, 1919–1921
Chapter 8. First Steps along the Appalachian Trail, 1921–1923
Chapter 9. The Regional Planning Association of America and the Appalachian Trail Conference, 1923–1925
Chapter 10. The New Exploration, 1925–1928
Chapter 11. Trailwork and the "Townless Highway," 1928–1931
Chapter 12. "RP = TH + AT + HT," a Formula for the New Deal, 1931–1933
Chapter 13. The Tennessee Valley Authority 1934–1936
Chapter 14. The Wilderness Society, 1934–1936
Chapter 15. "Watershed Democracy," 1936–1945
Chapter 16. Wilderness in a Changing World, 1937–1950
Chapter 17. "Geotechnics of North America," 1944–1972
Chapter 18. Linking Action with Prophecy, 1953–1975
Epilogue. A "Planetary Feeling"Appendix. "An Appalachain Trail," by Benton MacKaye
Abbreviations
Notes
Note on Sources
Index