The Nevada Museum of Art first published The Altered Landscape in 1999, and it altered the landscape of landscape photography. Their story is ours.Īltered Landscapes: Photographs of a Changing Environment, Edited by Ann M. These “good road” proponents, along with the driven federal road bureaucrats and engineers of the 1920s to 1950s–Thomas MacDonald, chief of the Bureau of Public Roads and his associates Herbert Fairbank and Frank Turner–are largely responsible for the way America looks today. The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers who Created the American Superhighways, by Earl Swift, Houghton Mifflin, 2011Īn accessible history of the people, politics, and process of building the Interstate system and the first transcontinental roads in the USA, starting with the often overlooked influence of Carl Fisher, the cyclist and racer from Indianapolis, who personally paid for some of the early roads in the west. Written by a Jeopardy champion, the book is peppered with historical references, factoids, as well as numerous thoughtful linkages, regarding the earth as a plaything, mostly. The best parts of the book are the chapters that look at the info-spatial recreational activities that GPS and internet have enabled, like geocaching, and the Degree Confluence Project.

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, by Ken Jennings, Scribner, 2011īeyond the anecdotal talk about geography bees and map collectors is an interesting overview of systematic travelers, place collectors and checklisters, such as the Travelers Century Club, High Pointers, roadgeeks, and the guy that visited 8,480 Starbucks in North America.

Maphead ken jennings summary