The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 30 December 1999
by Witold Rybczynski
Rybczynski has written a highly engaging biography of the intriguing master of nineteenth century landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted, who came to his calling at the relatively late age of 44, led a highly varied life until that time. A driven, dedicated, detail-oriented farmer, he also served in the precursor to the Red Cross during the Civil War, as a gold mine manager in California, as a respected observer of pre-Civil War life in the South, and as one of the founders of The Nation. So, Olmsted's life is a remarkable cross-section of the century, from before the Civil War to the Gilded Age, from New York City to Yosemite Valley, and from searching youth with many occupations to focussed and brilliant leader (even originator) of his profession. There is something for everyone here, California and Yosemite history, the Civil War, New York politics, and, of course, the beautiful landscape architecture left to us by this master designer.
Rybczynski clearly has great affection for the man and his work. The book is sensitive and often personal. Olmsted's masterworks, New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, the 1893 Columbian Exposition, are described and the tribulations in getting them built as well. But the author, also, leaves some of the detail of Olmsted's countless projects to other writers. This isn't a deficiency, here, as the telling is excellent, and Rybczynski offers commentary on other Olmsted books. The author's personal touch includes several literary asides in which he envisions the everyday life of Olmsted and the people around him. Initially somewhat distracting, by the end, these vignettes offer a gentle insight into the life of the times. Olmsted was a brilliant, complex and driven man. His vision was remarkably far-seeing. Yet the only lack this reader felt was in what others, particularly his family, would have thought of him as a father and a person. Nevertheless, this terrific biography covers a lot of ground with engaging style.
Also by Rybczynski: [One Good Turn] [City Life] [Home]