A man of passionate vision and drive, Frederick Law Olmsted defined and named the profession of landscape architecture and designed America's most beloved parks and landscapes of the past century - New York's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Biltmore Estate, and many others. During a remarkable forty-year career that began in the mid-1800s, Olmsted created the first park systems, urban greenways, and suburban residential communities in this country.

He was a pivotal figure in the movement to create and preserve natural parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Niagara Falls; and he contributed to the design of many academic campuses, including Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Today there is a resurgence of interest in Olmsted's work and legacy in both the United States and Europe. This timely volume, following the format of Rizzoli's successful Masterworks series, presents the breadth of Olmsted's work in expansive, beautiful color photographs by Paul Rocheleau, who conceived this book.

The engaging text illuminates Olmsted's role as an indefatigable administrator and social reformer, a man who slept a scant few hours each night and rallied around causes ranging from anti-slavery to sanitary regulation. Olmsted's career reflected a deep concern for fostering community and using the restorative effects of natural scenery to counteract the debilitating forces of the modern city.