Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System

<p>Whether flying a kite in Franklin Park gardening in the Fens or jogging along the Riverway today's Bostonians are greatly indebted to the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted. The man who dreamed of an emerald necklace of parks for Boston completed his plans in 1895 yet his invigorating influence shapes the city to this day despite the encroachment of highways and urban sprawl. Cynthia Zaitzevsky's book is the first fully illustrated account of Olmsted's work: the process of getting the plan of a park supervising its construction adding the necessary furniture of bridges and other structures and selecting plants shrubs and trees. <p/>Frederick Law Olmsted's stellar career in landscape architecture began with his design for Central Park in New York City. Public concern for open spaces led Boston to commission Olmsted to design peaceful country parks for the mental and physical refreshment of those who lived in the expanding city. He planned the system of five parks and connecting parkways extending out from the original Boston Common and Public Garden as well as harbor and riverfront improvements--a vast set of projects involving 2000 acres of open land. He and his firm also designed many smaller parks playgrounds and suburban subdivisions. <p/>This book will be invaluable to anyone interested in landscape architecture city planning the history of Boston or the nineteenth-century urban park movement and its current revival.</p>