CSU’s Public Lands History Center has launched a new Public Lands History series with the University of Oklahoma Press.
Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service (1916 – 2016), the first book in the series is National Parks Beyond the Nation. The book was the result of a four-day workshop held at Colorado State University in 2011 with international scholars of national park history. The anthology of essays calls on the international research of national parks from 12 leading environmental history scholars from across the globe. Adrian Howkins, Jared Orsi and Mark Fiege of Colorado State University’s Department of History and the Public Lands History Center edited the book. National Parks Beyond the Nation delivers a rich collection of essays on the environmental history of national parks within an international setting.
The second book in the series is Sea of Sand: A History of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, written by local Fort Collins historian and CSU alumnus Michael M. Geary. Sea of Sand guides readers on a fascinating historical journey through more than 10,000 years of human history at Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, home to the tallest sand dunes in North America. Sea of Sand features an array of descriptions of natural and cultural wonders, and details the vast enormity of the sand dunes as well as the human impact on the landscape. The book also explores the recent legislative effort led by an unprecedented coalition of local, state and federal agencies, including The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service, to secure national park status for the Great Sand Dunes.
Geary is a writer, researcher, avid historian and long-time resident of Fort Collins who has also written A Quick History of Grand Lake (Western Reflections, Inc., 1999). An engaging public speaker, Geary is available for interviews, book signings and talks, and visual presentations. He can be contacted directly at 970-420-9301 or mgears7@yahoo.com.
The Public Lands History Center is a partnership of university-based historians and scholars who use the past to guide partners in the management of resources in light of real-world problems. The center collaborates with federal agencies as well as various other institutions responsible for cultural and natural resource management, including the National Park Service.
For more information on the Public Lands History series through University of Oklahoma Press, contact the Public Lands History Center at 970-491-6130 or visit publiclands.colostate.edu.
