TEN THOUSAND CENTRAL PARKS

An examination of New York’s Central Park and its history, set in the context of global climate change.

Any history of Central Park necessarily spotlights Frederick Law Olmsted, who (with Calvert Vaux) did much of the design work for the park and was its first superintendent. Olmsted’s early career as a farmer, travel writer, and magazine editor gave no hint of his eventual calling. But when Vaux recruited him to enter an open competition for designing the park, the two men shared a vision of a park open to all the city’s people, mixing meadows, woodland, and more formally designed parkland. Their “Greensward” design was selected, and today’s park still strongly reflects its origins. In addition to the park’s early history, the author explores its role in the city as a whole. Despite its designers’ intention to make it a place for all classes of New Yorkers, it was necessary to expel an established community of largely Black homeowners from Seneca Village, which sat on land designated for the park. In the early years, access was easiest for upper-class residents, but the park soon became everyone’s playground. Brown, the author of The Culture of Pain (1991), includes anecdotes from his own walks in the park, tales of the wildlife that has made it a home—including the occasional exotic bird such as Flaco the owl—and snapshots of historical events that have taken place there. As the subtitle indicates, he sees the park as a model for municipalities nationwide to emulate—creating green space to help offset carbon emissions and other environmental problems. The author too often starts on an interesting bit of lore only to go off on a tangent—a distraction in an otherwise enjoyable book.

A multifaceted exploration of one of the first great public works projects in America.