A contextual history of Massachusetts' Olmsted National Historic Site

The Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, was founded in 1942 by William 'Wild Bill' Donovan under the direction of President Roosevelt, who realized the need to improve intelligence during wartime. A rigorous recruitment process enlisted agents from both the armed services and civilians to produce operational groups specializing in different foreign areas including Italy, Norway, Yugoslavia and China. At its peak in 1944, the number of men and women working in the service totaled nearly 13,500. This intriguing story of the origins and development of the American espionage forces covers all of the different departments involved, with a particular emphasis on the courageous teams operating in the field. The volume is illustrated with many photographs, including images from the film director John Ford who led the OSS Photographic Unit and parachuted into Burma in 1943.

Both Central Park in New York and Yosemite Valley in California became public parks during the tumultuous years before and during the Civil War. Rolf Diamant and Ethan Carr demonstrate how anti-slavery activism, war, and the remaking of the federal government gave rise to the American public park and concept of national parks. The authors closely examine Frederick Law Olmsted's 1865 Yosemite Report--the key document that expresses the aspirational vision of making great public parks keystone institutions of a renewed liberal democracy.

"The Facility Management Software System (FMSS), developed to improve the effectiveness of facility operations, has the capability of serving as a powerful tool for landscape preservation. With proper data input, FMSS allows facility managers access to information about the historic significance and treatment of cultural landscapes, and to use that information for determining operational and funding priorities." --P. 2.

Provides guidance to cultural landscape owners, stewards and managers, landscape architects, preservation planners, architects, engineers, contractors, and project reviewers prior to and during the planning and implementation of treatment projects. A cultural landscape is a geographic area associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values.