Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History

by Anne Mitchell Whisnant

Overview

The most visited site in the National Park system, the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway winds along the ridges of the Appalachian mountains in Virginia and North Carolina. According to most accounts, the Parkway was a New Deal "Godsend for the needy," built without conflict or opposition by landscape architects and planners who traced their vision along a scenic, isolated southern landscape. The historical archives relating to this massive public project, however, tell a different and much more complicated story, which Anne Mitchell Whisnant relates in this revealing history of the beloved roadway.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807898420
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/02/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	405,483
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Anne Mitchell Whisnant received her Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is now Director of Research, Communications, and Programs for the Office of Faculty Governance. She has served as a consultant to the National Park Service and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. More information about the book is available online at www.superscenic.com.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Exploding one myth after another, Anne Mitchell Whisnant takes readers deep into the hidden history of Appalachia's beloved scenic road. Brilliantly researched and stylishly written, Whisnant's work demonstrates that many of the Parkway's most famous landmarks—Peaks of Otter, Little Switzerland, Grandfather Mountain—are as much man-made as natural, having evolved out of human struggles over power, class, and the elusive meaning of 'public good.' This is must reading for anyone interested in the southern Appalachians, tourism, national parks, and our ongoing struggle to create a place for ourselves in nature.—Timothy Silver, author of Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America

Editorial Reviews

[Super-Scenic Motorway] strips away decades of . . . myth-making fostered by tourism officials and the park service, and details the social, economic and political battles that shaped a two-lane road that's the most visited place managed by the park service.—Associated Press

[A] lucid analysis. . . . [Whisnant's] work provides vital lessons on historic and environmental preservation.—The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

Elegantly reveals the Parkway's history. . . . Decidedly revisionist . . . presents a more complex history of the road. . . . Whisnant's engagingly written and carefully researched account brings to light a more accurate picture of how the Blue Ridge Parkway came to be while taking nothing away from the . . . site.—Appalachian Journal

"Whisnant tells the history, culture, and politics of building the Parkway in a readable manner.—Blue Ridge Outdoors

This well-documented and well-researched study, often presented in strident style, provides a new perspective on the parkway's creation. . . . Super-Scenic Motorway's invaluable documentation will help readers better understand the parkway's complex development.—North Carolina Historical Review

[Super Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History] is a valuable book for those of us who would understand how political and commercial pressures affected what many of us believe to be the wonders of the built world. . . . It's a well-researched, richly detailed and thoughtful examination of a monumental public works project that, for all its turmoil, turned out beautifully."-Jack Betts, Charlotte Observer

Whisnant brings the true parkway to light in a skillful demonstration of the historian's craft at the highest level of excellence—thoroughly researched, especially well documented and presented. . . . Highly recommended.—Choice

Whisnant does an excellent job. . . . After reading the book, your view of Asheville might never be quite the same.—SpeedReaders.info

A fascinating account. . . . Insightful and elegantly written. . . . By far the most thorough and well-researched history of the Parkway to date.—Georgia Historical Quarterly

An impressive documentation of the creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the resultant transfer of considerable acreage from one type of human exploitation (farming, lumber, etc.) to another type (scenic-tourism).—Southern Cultures

From the Publisher