Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History

by Anne Mitchell Whisnant

Overview

The most visited site in the National Park system, the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway winds along the ridges of the Appalachian mountains in Virginia and North Carolina. According to most accounts, the Parkway was a New Deal "Godsend for the needy," built without conflict or opposition by landscape architects and planners who traced their vision along a scenic, isolated southern landscape. The historical archives relating to this massive public project, however, tell a different and much more complicated story, which Anne Mitchell Whisnant relates in this revealing history of the beloved roadway.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807898420
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/02/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Anne Mitchell Whisnant received her Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is now Director of Research, Communications, and Programs for the Office of Faculty Governance. She has served as a consultant to the National Park Service and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. More information about the book is available online at www.superscenic.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Super-Scenic Motorway is a thoroughly researched, clear-eyed analysis of the genesis and development of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Righteously revisionist, it provides a most needed corrective to the prevalent romantic vision of both the Appalachian region and the National Park Service.—Dwight T. Pitcaithley, chief historian, National Park Service (Ret.)

Exploding one myth after another, Anne Mitchell Whisnant takes readers deep into the hidden history of Appalachia's beloved scenic road. Brilliantly researched and stylishly written, Whisnant's work demonstrates that many of the Parkway's most famous landmarks—Peaks of Otter, Little Switzerland, Grandfather Mountain—are as much man-made as natural, having evolved out of human struggles over power, class, and the elusive meaning of 'public good.' This is must reading for anyone interested in the southern Appalachians, tourism, national parks, and our ongoing struggle to create a place for ourselves in nature.—Timothy Silver, author of Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America

Editorial Reviews

Elegantly reveals the Parkway's history. . . . Decidedly revisionist . . . presents a more complex history of the road. . . . Whisnant's engagingly written and carefully researched account brings to light a more accurate picture of how the Blue Ridge Parkway came to be while taking nothing away from the . . . site.—Appalachian Journal



[A] lucid analysis. . . . [Whisnant's] work provides vital lessons on historic and environmental preservation.—The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography



The deliberate, scholarly work promises, in the author's words, to 'take us from a place many think they understand to one few would recognize, along a Blue Ridge Parkway almost no one knows.' Strap in and hold tight." —Mountain Xpress



By sifting through various myths and facts, Whisnant reveals the truth behind the Parkway's seemingly undisturbed serene beauty.—Sanford Herald



Exhaustively researched…fascinating—Rocky Mount Telegram



Whisnant brings the true parkway to light in a skillful demonstration of the historian's craft at the highest level of excellence—thoroughly researched, especially well documented and presented. . . . Highly recommended.—Choice



This well-documented and well-researched study, often presented in strident style, provides a new perspective on the parkway's creation. . . . Super-Scenic Motorway's invaluable documentation will help readers better understand the parkway's complex development.—North Carolina Historical Review



Historian Anne Mitchell Whisnant's Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History is a must-read for anyone who frequents the mountains.—Durham Herald-Sun



The book strips away decades of such myth-making fostered by tourism officials and the park service and details the social, economic, and political battles that shaped a two-lane road that is the most visited place managed by the park service.—Raleigh News & Observer



Brilliantly researched and stylishly written. . . . Readers can rest assured this enormous book packs a wallop.—Appalachian Heritage

From the Publisher