Thank you Ken Burns ..... The National Parks America's Best Idea

[Botany]

Story telling and beauty on an epic scale .....






.... my life is richer now that I know of George Masa and the Great Smoky Mountains

[damonm]

1. Saw that the other night...

Ken Burns being brillant - AGAIN.
K&R for this.

[lamp_shade]

2. Ken Burns is a National Treasure.

[Botany]

3. In the parks all are "just Americans." Robert Sterling Yard

[malaise]

4. I recorded tonight's episode

wanted to watch Alan Grayson on Rachel.
I'm watching now. It is awesome.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. The story telling is what I enjoy

I've visited quite a few national parks and I've seen photos of the others. But what I didn't know much about was the story of how they became national parks and the enormous struggle that a few heroic individuals engaged in to preserve them. That's what fascinating about the narrative line of this documentary for me.

[DearAbby]

6. We don't have TV

So we are watching it one day behind the rest of you, online at www.pbs.org. We are really enjoying this series here.

[4_TN_TITANS]

7. An interesting thought while I was watching it last night...

At first, the parks were established and visited by only the filthiest rich - practically everyone else was busy getting raped by corporate America at that time, even with child labor.
I got a sense that these parks might have more resembled England's royal hunting grounds, playgrounds for only the King and nobility. Eventually, a sense of decency and shame crept in and people like Rockefeller began donating them to the people who had given their lives to stuff his family's pockets with mind-boggling wealth.

It sure seemed to me that instead of an undertaking for the betterment of Americans, giving the parks to the public did much to keep anger at gross inequality from boiling over. A bribe to the public, if you will.

[supernova]

8. Yes, I'm enjoying the backstory

on how these parks came into being. Really enjoyed the section about John Muir. I want to read more of is stuff now. Shameful how Yosemite was exploited in the early years.

Can't wait to see the segment about The Great Smoky Mountains Park. :D

[gauguin57]

9. I am loving the series. And the stories Ken Burns has been telling on talk shows ... to wit:

Last night on Charlie Rose, Burns told a story about how, when they were filming at Yosemite, he told his production partners that that was the first national park he ever visited.

But then, during a sleepless night, he remembered that, back in the 1950s, when he was 6 years old, his dad took him to Shenandoah Natn'l Park.

Burns' mother was dying of cancer, and his household was "hell," he said. He said his dad was "not a good dad." That trip to Shenandoah was the only road trip they ever took together.

Burns said that, as they continued to shoot at Yosemite, he suddenly remembered how his father's hand had felt in his, and the songs his father sang to him on that one and only road trip.

I was bawling.

[Bombero1956]

10. is it me or does it seem like

he concentrating on western parks. Other than Great Smoky Mountain and Everglades National Parks there isn't one extended mention of any parks east of the Mississippi. Dry Tortugas gets a 5 second mention as does Arcadia in Maine. Otherwise its all Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. Ken Burns is a great film maker but he tends to narrow the focus of the subject matter to the exclusion of the whole story.

[XOKCowboy]

11. Incredible series. I'm mesmerized by it..

I've had the great fortune to have visited many of our National Parks in my years. I had no idea about Harold Ickes or Stephen Mather and I think I forgot about John D Rockefeller's part in saving much of Jackson Hole.

I'm so thankful for so many great men and women who had such great vision, perseverance and money to preserve these natural wonders. I was once with a group of American friends. We'd just been through Windsor Palace and sitting in a pub stunned by what we'd just seen. One of the group regretted that the US had such a limited history and one of my friends said something I've never forgotten. She said that we may not have a cultural history like most of Europe and Asia but we had a natural history unparalleled in the world. I had to agree. I've seen the Mona Lisa and David and I got the exact same feeling of awe seeing the Grand Canyon from Angel Point or Glacier Point in Yosemite. Maybe more.

[misanthrope]

12. I love art but it's never rivaled what I felt in Yosemite**nm

**

[XOKCowboy]

13. I got the same "chills" looking at David...

as I did looking at Half Dome, just for different reasons. With David it was total awe of Michelangelo and how a another mere human could make something so perfect. With Yosemite, it's a feeling of being a tiny part of a such a beautiful universe.

Hard to explain. Beauty is beauty to me, just for different reasons.

[KoKo]

14. K&R...even though this latest doesn't do it for me..For many others it might inspire!

:kick: