The nature of parks -- The states begin to stir: state park initiatives in the nineteenth century -- The momentum builds: state parks expansion in the early twentieth century -- Coalescence: the first national conference on parks -- "A state park every hundred miles": the national conference on the state parks goes to work -- Dubious progress: assessing the relevance of the national conference on state parks -- An unexpected boon: economic recovery and a new deal for state parks -- Recovery and beyond: depression-era initiatives look to the future -- A major interruption: wartime distraction and postwar rebound -- The continuing search for direction: the ever-resilient national conference on state parks -- A new era of federal-state cooperation -- Signs of maturity -- A look behind the scenes: issues and influences that shape the state park system -- Anything goes: an age of expansion, experimentation, and expediency -- Looking to the future: the view from one observer's soapbox.
