Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America's National Parks, Third Expanded Edition

This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land

For most of my career, I worked in the Office of the Solicitor for the United States Department of the Interior. Interior is often referred to as "the department of everything else" as it includes a collection of agencies with differing missions involving America's lands and people. During my years with the Department, I came to a deepened appreciation of the scope of our country and of its history.

Formed in 1916, the National Park Service is part of Interior, and it administers the National Parks -- often and properly referred to as our country's "crown jewels". My work for the Department over the years brought me into frequent contact with the Park Service, but I was not a Park Service attorney. I had been thinking about Interior when I discovered this book, "Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America's National Parks" (Third Expanded Edition). by QT Luong. This award-winning book consists of color photographs Luong took of each of the 63 National Parks over the course of some twenty years. The book is large, heavy, outsize and difficult to handle. But it is a wonderful means of exploring the National Parks and through the Parks of exploring and thinking about the United States.

Luong's own life story is inspiring in helping to understand his book of beautiful Park photography. Born to a Vietnamese family in France, Luong was raised with a love of mountaneering. He came to the United States for what he thought would be a short stay to pursue education in California. He became attracted to the mountains of California and Alaska and gradually expanded his interests to include other aspects of America's widely varying geography. Luong stayed in the United States after completing his education to pursue a career in computer science. But his developing love for the National Parks and for photography won out. Luong abandoned his scientific career and struck out on his own on a journey to visit and photograph each park in the National Park system. It was a brave, committed thing to do with no contracts and no outside funding. But Luong pursued his dream, and this highly successful and valuable book is the result. As Luong says in the book, the journey is the destination. His life, and his willingness to find and pursue his passion say a great deal in themeselves about the United States and its National Parks.

The heart of the book lies in the many color photos of each of the 63 National Parks, from those familiar and frequently visited to those less so. The photographs and parks are arranged in seven sections, titled "Pacific Coast and Mountains", "Colorado Plateau", "Deserts", "Rockies and Prairie", "Eastern Hardwoods", "Alaska", and "Tropics". The headings themselves suggest the diversity of terrain and of biology of our park system. Each park receives a brief introduction from Luong followed by several pages of photographs. After the photos, a short section offers basic background information on each park, including its location, size, number of visitors, date of establishment, and the like. The large photographs and some additional photographs are given in thumbnail with Luong's annotations for those wishing additional information.

The book can be explored in many ways. The format encourages browsing. But each section and each park can also be explored on their own. Readers wishing detail on a park or a particular photo may explore the smaller photographs with Luong's commentary. Part of Luong's goal is to encourage readers to visit the Parks. I have visited some in my day, but the book created in me a feeling of reflection more than a feeling to jump on the road and travel at an advanced age.

Each of the National Parks is effectively a world onto itself and each is also part of a whole system and part of an even broader United States. I enjoyed accompanying Luong on his decades-long odyssey through the Parks. His odyssey brought back memories of what was valuable in my own working life. His own story and the story of the Parks helped me to understand and to appreciate our country and its promise.

Robin Friedman