Frederick Law Olmsted was the father of American landscape architecture. He is credited with planning, designing, and constructing public parks throughout America, including New York City's Central Park, and for designing the landscaping of the grounds for the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, for the U.S. Capital in Washington, D.C., and for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Malcolm Jones, Jr., in Newsweek commented that "Olmsted not only designed the nation's most famous public spaces, he introduced America to the whole idea of public parks." In addition to championing the idea of public parks within the nation's cities, he was instrumental in promoting the idea that the Yosemite reservation in California be set aside as a national park. More than any other American of his generation, Olmsted represented a belief in the power of landscape to provide a refuge for urban residents. At a time...