In the 12 inspiring lectures of Stories of America’s National Parks, Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, author of several highly acclaimed books about American history and ecology, takes you on a marvelous journey through some of the most beautiful places on Earth. You’ll traverse the country to explore the origins, cultural legacy, and environmental import of sites from the Hawaiian islands to the Alaskan wilderness to the Atlantic seaboard.
Stories of America’s National Parks
From Yellowstone to the Everglades, get to know America through our natural landscapes preserved by the National Park System.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Scrof from
More to know than you think
The national parks are one of the greatest ideas ever conceived by the USA. This course fills in some of the why it happened and who made important contributions. The speaker is knowledgeable and pleasant to listen to. I only regret that the course is only 12 lectures long. Perhaps another set of fill in lectures could be arranged in the future.
Date published: 2024-12-05
Overview
About
Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer. She has a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She is the author of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, which won the 2023 Spur Award for Best Western Historical Nonfiction Book, and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West, which was a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Smithsonian magazine.
Trailer
01: Yellowstone: America’s First National Park
Venture back in time to witness the birth of the National Park System. Here, you’ll meet Ferdinand Hayden, a scientist who lobbied to explore Yellowstone in the 1870s. Once he recognized what a treasure this region was—including forests, geysers, and other natural wonders—he convinced the federal government to protect the land for posterity.
33 min
02: The Majestic Giants of Sequoia National Park
Travel to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains to stand among the world’s largest trees. More than a century ago, conservationists recognized not only the great beauty of this unusual forest, but also the threat posed by loggers and economic development—resulting in the creation of Sequoia National Park.
27 min
03: Mesa Verde: Preserving Ancient Ruins
Mesa Verde National Park offers an astonishing combination of environmental beauty and cultural heritage. Dr. Nelson takes you on a journey through the American southwest, where ancient cliff dwellings offer archaeological insight into Pueblo history.
27 min
04: Hawaii Volcanoes: Parks as Science Labs
Shift your attention from the American West to the Pacific Ocean, where the fiery spectacle of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park captures the imagination. Central to the geologic story of Hawai‘i’s Big Island is Pele, the goddess of creation and destruction, who is central to this park’s cultural heritage.
28 min
05: Denali: What’s in a Name?
Bundle up as you ascend the heights of Denali National Park, the tallest peak in North America. The park’s rich cultural history includes Indigenous groups who have called Alaska home for thousands of years. These groups—along with gold miners, big-game hunters, and mountaineers—all played a role in preserving this awe-inspiring wilderness.
28 min
06: Grand Canyon: Building on the Edge
Many of us have fond memories of visiting the Grand Canyon with our families, but what is the story behind Grand Canyon National Park? What do the geological formations tell us about millions of years of Earth’s history? And how did one of the nation’s foremost architects work to shape visitor experiences at the Grand Canyon? Deepen your understanding of one of America’s most famous landscapes.
30 min
07: Philanthropy and Park Creation at Acadia
Discover the rugged beauty of coastal Maine. Here, you’ll see how wealthy vacationers, the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, the preservationist George Bucknam Dorr, and many others worked to create Acadia National Park, which today is a striking symbol of cultural preservation and innovative landscape architecture.
29 min
08: Shenandoah: Who Owns a View?
Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Shenandoah National Park is a significant testament to America’s natural beauty and complex history. From the native Monacan people to “hollow” residents to activists working for integration during the civil rights era, those who have lived in and loved the Shenandoah region are all part of the captivating history of the easternmost rampart of the Appalachian Range.
29 min
09: The Power of Water in the Everglades
Head south to the tropics of Florida, where conservationists like Marjory Stoneman Douglas battled to protect the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades. Along with examining the park’s biodiversity, Dr. Nelson walks you through the region’s history of exploitation and preservation.
29 min
10: The Vast Underground World of Mammoth Cave
Not all national parks can be viewed from the surface. Head underground with Dr. Nelson to travel through Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, the world’s longest cave system. Learn about the history of mining and exploration in the caves—including the life of Stephen Bishop, an enslaved man who became a pioneering cave guide in the 19th century.
30 min
11: Saving the Desert in Death Valley
Return above ground to the harsh deserts of Death Valley National Park, which at 3.4 million acres is the largest national park in the continental United States. In addition to its size, the park is known for its extreme weather conditions and its dark sky views at night. Delve into this wonder of contradictions.
29 min
12: White Sands: A Landscape of Warfare
Your course wraps up with a look at White Sands National Park. Located amid desert dunes in New Mexico, the history of White Sands ranges from Indigenous hunting and gathering to the US military’s atomic bomb tests in the 1940s—a testament to the complexity of interaction between human and natural worlds.
36 min
