From New York's Central Park to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and the White House, the influence of Frederick Law Olmsted and his successor firms is woven into the American landscape. Yet few people realize there were three generations of Olmsteds—or that their work helped define the profession of landscape architecture and forever changed the way we think about parks, public spaces, and cities.

Charles A. Birnbaum, founder and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and American Academy in Rome, follows the evolution of the Olmsted practice from 1857 to 1979, introducing the visionary designers and collaborators whose work shaped communities across the nation. He explores Olmsted's groundbreaking ideas—from parkways and park systems to the concept of landscape as essential infrastructure—and shows how his understanding of ecology, water, soil, and urban planning continues to influence the design of parks, campuses, and cities today.

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