| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 37.3

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| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 37.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Preserving the Living Past: John C. Merriam's Legacy in the State and National Parks. By Stephen R. Mark. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. xv + 204 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. $39.95.)

Preserving the Living Past is a well researched, judiciously argued, and gracefully written look at the role played in the national and state park movements by the paleontologist, natural philosopher, and conservationist John Campbell Merriam. This is not a history of the park movement, nor is it a biography. Indeed, Merriam often fades from center stage, in part because of what Mark describes as the opacity of his subject's personality. Merriam was, it appears, not easily approached or questioned. Ironically, the figure of Merriam comes alive only toward the end of Preserving the Living Past, when the lifelong quixotic qualities of his personality worsened with age. One suspects, however, that Merriam would have liked an analysis that left his private life little exposed while emphasizing his dogged determination that the nation's state and national parks be used for the higher purposes of scientific research, philosophical inspiration, and public education. The book is an able portrayal of a man who, despite an aloof manner, had the "touch of a poet" when he described the natural world.

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