Spirituality and the State: Managing Nature and Experience in America's National Parks

Abstract

In recent years, environmental historians, insisting the field remain “leading edge,” have largely abandoned the national parks. Some historians actually disparage the subject as “simple.” Kerry Mitchell, from the field of comparative religion, reminds us why the parks are not simple at all. Although the parks embrace a straightforward ideal, the system's motives remain complex. Beyond preserving nature for nature's sake, he adds, parks legitimized the emerging state. From the earliest beginnings of the national parks, a public religion, and hence a state religion, further speeded their evolution. In other words, Mitchell agrees with my findings on scenic nationalism in National Parks: The American Experience (1979). However, scenic nationalism went deeper than patriotism, he contends. Especially when Frederick Law Olmsted “planned” Yosemite Valley, he planned beyond anything of momentary pride, finally to consider the security of the state. A country with Yosemite's scenery in common would be stronger socially, morally, and spiritually. Building on Olmsted's work, later proponents of the parks, including the National Park Service,