The View from a Small Mountain: Reading the American Landscape

By Suzannah Lessard

A visionary look at America's history and future, through the lens of its landscape and architecture. Moving from agrarian times to the Industrial Age to the Digital Age, Lessard investigates our most iconic landscapes, and connects the dots in a way no one else has done before, blending geography, history, sociology, philosophy, literature, art and architecture to deliver an entirely original view of America. * In this book, Lessard moves landscape from the background to the foreground, treating our "settings" as important and essential actors on their own. * Lessard teaches us how to "read" the landscape, and shows how we can gain unique insights about America's past, present, and future by closely examining the various ways that human hands have shaped landscape over the years. * Lessard guides us through many of America's most fascinating, distinct, and unusual landscapes, including Gettysburg; Trinity, NM; Natchez, MS; Truth or Consequences, NM; Youngstown, OH; King of Prussia, PA; Washington, D.C.; NYC; Freshkills landfill; suburbs across the country; and the new phenomenon of "edge cities." * Through these landscapes, she investigates everything from the Civil War and the legacy of slavery to the atom bomb and the Nuclear Age, to the rise of media saturation and consumerism, to the dawn of the digital revolution.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385316313
• ISBN13: 9780385316316
• Release Date: January 2035
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.