Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted

by Justin Martin

Frederick Law Olmsted is arguably the most important historical figure that the average American knows the least about. Best remembered for his landscape architecture, from New York's Central Park to Boston's Emerald Necklace to Stanford University's campus, Olmsted was also an influential journalist, early voice for the environment, and abolitionist credited with helping dissuade England from joining the South in the Civil War. This momentous career was shadowed by a tragic personal life, also fully portrayed here. Most of all, he was a social reformer. He didn't simply create places that were beautiful in the abstract. An awesome and timeless intent stands behind Olmsted's designs, allowing his work to survive to the present day. With our urgent need to revitalize cities and a widespread yearning for green space, his work is more relevant now than it was during his lifetime. Justin Martin restores Olmsted to his rightful place in the pantheon of great Americans.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Architecture, Nature, Biography Memoir, Urbanism

496 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2011

About the author

My latest is A Fierce Glory, out in September (Da Capo Press). It's a group biography treatment of Antietam, the Civil War's pivotal battle, still America's single bloodiest day. The rich cast includes: Robert E. Lee, pioneering war photographer Alexander Gardner, and Jonathan Letterman, the father of battlefield medicine. Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation are woven into my account far more than in a typical military history of Antietam.

My specialty is American history, meticulously researched, but delivered in a narrative style that’s akin to fiction. My previous book was Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America’s First Bohemians (Da Capo, 2014) about a decadent and incredibly influential artists’ circle that hung out at Pfaff’s saloon in NYC during the 1850s. Among its members: a young Walt Whitman; Artemus Ward, America’s first standup comic; psychedelic drug pioneer Fitz Hugh Ludlow; and Adah Isaacs Menken, an actress notorious for her “"Naked Lady" act. Rebel Souls, chosen as the outstanding biography of 2014 by the Victoria Society, New York, and as a finalist for the Marfield Prize, was also picked as one of the best books of that year by both the Kansas City Star and Choice magazine.

Before that, I wrote Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted (Da Capo, 2011). Genius tells the story of one of the most important figures in the history of America. Olmsted was a fervent abolitionist, noted journalist, Civil War hero, early environmentalist, and the landscape architect behind New York's Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, Stanford University, the Biltmore Estate and dozens of other green spaces around the U.S.

Other subjects have included Alan Greenspan and Ralph Nader. My Greenspan bio was selected as a notable book for 2001 by the New York Times Book Review. My Nader bio was a primary source for An Unreasonable Man, an Academy Award nominated documentary. I have also written a number of children's books for use in the classroom, everything from biographies to fractured fairy tales to titles designed to help young readers learn parts of speech. I'm a generalist. I love to write on varied subjects for both kids and adults.

I'm a 1987 graduate of Rice University in Houston, TX. I live with my wife and twin sons in Forest Hills Gardens, NY, a neighborhood designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give non-fiction books five stars, for the simple reason that imagination and creativity are not necessary ingredients in books of this genre. This isn’t to say that I dislike non-fiction! No, I read them all the time—you always learn something when you pick them up! This one is exceptional. It is so well done; it deserves a whopping five stars.

Clearly, the book is well researched. It is the relevant and interesting facts concerning Frederick Law Olmsted’s life that are presented. Irrelevant, dry and boring information is sorted out. The reader is given a realistic view of who Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903) was, his good qualities as well as his bad. The information is comprehensive, well organized and told in an interesting fashion. Neither too much nor too little background information is provided. The telling moves forward chronologically, progressing from his childhood to his death. We learn of all the members of his family. An epilogue covers how the company he established and left to his sons developed after his death. The legacy Olmsted has left to the world is covered too.

All of the projects Olmsted worked with as a landscape architect are discussed in detail. You might guess this to be tedious, but it is not!! Olmsted tested many different occupations before he found his niche. He worked as a surveyor, a sailor aboard a ship to China, a farmer, a journalist and he actively supported abolitionism. During the Civil War he was manager of the United States Sanitary Commission bringing aid to Union soldiers. After the war he became the recording secretary of the Southern Famine Relief Commission. All of these occupations and all of his travels, walking in Europe and sailing to China, left indelible marks on him. Each experience, as well as the illnesses and accidents he had to cope with, shaped him into the person he came to be. Nothing was wasted on him. His father was generous, helping him out time and time again. If Olmsted’s life story says anything, it is that there is hope even for slow starters! Slow starters can eventually give much to mankind!

Olmsted’s is such an interesting person. We all know of his creation of NYC's Central Park, but we owe so much more to him. He sought to bring green spaces to all of us--the poor and the rich and to those who are physically handicapped. He fought for the preservation of sites of natural beauty. Yosemite and Niagara Falls are but two examples. He understood the importance and value of beauty. He has brought beauty to others. In so doing, he has made the public aware of the beauty to be found in nature. He has changed the mindset of how we observe the world.

I know it sounds like I am eulogizing Olmsted, but in my eyes what he has given to the world is important. His weaknesses and his faults are discussed in the book too. I still admire him. I admire his sense of equality and his ability to plan for the future. For me, his failings just make him human.

Richard Ferrone narrates just as I want non-fiction audiobooks to be read. Every word that he says is clear. He reads slowly. You do not feel stressed while you listen. You have plenty of time to absorb all the interesting details. Both French and German words are correctly pronounced. The narration I have given five stars.

This book kept my attention from start to finish. It shows the good and the bad in the man. You see Olmsted as a real human being. I feel an affinity for him. He is for me a person to admire. This is a very well written book about a fascinating person. I highly recommend it.

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Books by Olmsted:
*The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller's Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States, 1853-1861 TBR
*A Journey through Texas: Or a Saddle-Trip on the Southwestern Frontier TBR

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freddy Olmsted was a spoiled brat. Before he got around to designing Central Park (with Calvert Vaux), or Prospect Park, or the Chicago World Fair site, or any of the other parks and estates in the U.S. that helped him establish the field of landscape architecture; before he helped preserve Yosemite or Niagara Falls... he was a chronic failure and a mooch. He couldn't hack it at school so he moved home with his father and stepmother. He gave up his first job as a surveyor to sail to China. Then he spent a summer on an upstate New York farm, so he decided to become a farmer, so he asked his father to buy him a farm. Not just any farm, but a farm in Connecticut on Long Island Sound. His father bought the farm, the seed, the tools and everything else Fred would need. Fred gave up after a year, but not before contemplating a major renovation to the farmhouse with the nation's premiere architect/publisher, Alexander Jackson Davis, even though the farm was a complete failure. The solution? His father bought him another farm, this one on Staten Island. Fred liked that for awhile, but then he got the travel bug, so his dad financed a trip to Europe, while all the while subsidizing the farm. When Fred returned, he didn't like farming as much because - hey - traveling is fun. So his neighbor got him a job traveling through the South to write about the state of slave relations for this new little publication called the New York Times. Fred did his first meaningful work, writing objectively about the situation in the years preceding the Civil War. When he returned to his failing farm, he had a taste for writing and published an unpopular book about his travels and then convinced his father to subsidize his stake in a new publishing company, and when that publishing company decided against publishing Omsted's next book, guess who paid to self-publish the book?

Around this time, Olmsted got involved in designing Central Park, a position that allowed him to find himself, and to impress enough people that, at the outset of the Civil War, he was asked to administer a new government agency charged with improving the health of northern soldiers and healing the wounded. From there he dabbled in a failed gold-mining venture before returning to landscape architecture and establishing himself as the public figure we admire.

I can't figure out what lesson to draw from all this. He couldn't have succeeded in life without the hand-holding of his rich father. He wouldn't have accomplished such works of lasting value, or established so many ideas of lasting consequence (parks are for people, natural treasures should be preserved not commercialized, landscape design is a form of art but it's a practical art) if he came from a poorer family. His genius would have been wasted as a surveyor forced to work hard to actually pay his own bills. His life path seems impossible now. No one gets that many opportunities. Partially, that's a product of the times, when fewer people and fewer prominent citizens competed for a seemingly unending string of opportunities as the nation grew. But mainly it's because of his rich and indulgent father. (By the way, he grew to be a sometimes-cruel father to his oldest stepson, particularly, and he was not generous to his stepmother when administering his father's estate after he died, and died poorer for having subsidized FLO for so long.)

But that's the difference between reading a biography and a Wikipedia entry, I guess.

[Elizabeth]

After hearing Olmsted's name come up repeatedly in other books, and in life in general, I was very eager to read about this "Landscape Architect" who has a fingerprint in every corner of the US. I'm interested in city planning, so this felt in line as well.

Totally fascinating! I'd recommend this biography not only for it's interesting human subject, but also for a general refresh of American history before, during and after the Civil War. It gets into antebellum South, America's cultural inferiority complex, medical developments (like the formation of the red cross), European traveling, The South, class issues (and how parks are great equalizers) and so much more!

So, this one man did the following:
- Co-designed Central park
- Journalist for the brand new publication now known as the New York Times
- Headed the USSC (United States Sanitary Commission) which saved thousands of soldier's lives during the Civil War
- Designed much of Washington D.C.'s public spaces
- Landscaped the Biltmore estate and convinced his patron, Vanderbilt Jr., to reforest an epic amount of land before 'conservation' was a thing
- Designed the campus for Stanford
- Chief landscaper for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago - "The White City"

That list is three times longer, but those are just highlights!

One particularly fascinating part is Olmsted's thought process on slavery. He went from somewhat indifferent to a passionate abolitionist, for very interesting reasons.

Very well written - enough information to be thorough, and intriguing, but not bog down the casual reader like me! I could read so much more about this guy.

[Matt Falber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel the need to defend Olmsted. Several reviewers have called him things like "spoiled," "mooch" or "loser." I think that's a bit harsh. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his fumblings. They made him the man he became and in the end, he paid his father back and certainly gave back to society. Nobody is perfect and Justin Martin aims to paint Olmsted as realistically as he can. He expertly sorts through an unprecedented amount of material to write a concise, yet thorough, and utterly interesting biography about the father of landscape architecture. I will look forward to reading more of his work.

[Emma Sexton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections: Olmsted was quite the workaholic. He was financially and socially privileged which enabled his career hopping until he settled into the multidisciplinary and new field of landscape architecture, dabbling in urban planning/design towards the end of his life. Nonetheless, he lived a life full of suffering and loss. Interesting read. I didn’t realize how much of an impact he had on our country.

[Sarah Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I realize that most of you aren't going to rush out and get this biography of America's preeminent park maker, but you really should. It's just so interesting. You'll learn a lot of American history as you follow the story of the unconventional and visionary man who helped design and build New York's Central Park and went on to design hundreds of American parks and other public spaces. In doing so, he helped shape how we connect and interact in our communities. It's a fascinating story; I'm glad I read it.

[Fran Hawthorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you live in New York City (and maybe elsewhere), you've probably heard of "OlmstedandVaux," the duo who designed Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn (among other projects). This excellent biography brings to life the first half of that pair -- Frederick Law Olmsted -- with much of the richness and aliveness of his beloved parks.

Olmsted was an amazing Renaissance man. In addition to pioneering the field of landscape architecture, he also wrote vivid books about his travels in the antebellum South that helped erode Britain's pro-South sympathies, thus arguably contributing to the North's victory in the Civil War. He also organized a forerunner of the Red Cross. Less successfully, he dabbled in journalism and tried to run a gold mine in California. His personal life gave him more sorrow and anxiety than happiness.

Sure, Olmsted's fascinating history almost guarantees a good yarn. But author Justin Martin deserves personal credit for his readable style and well-rounded portrayal of so many aspects of Olmsted's life. Luckily, he doesn't succumb to the tendency of many historians, to list every single piece of data he unearthed.

Thanks to this book, I now run and walk through Prospect Park with a deeper appreciation. (And I know why there's a statue labeled Stranahan at the main entrance!) It's too bad we all can't have a Justin Martin writing the inside story about the cities where we live.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I truly enjoyed this book, and reading more about FLO as a person.

Makes me think that in this day and age, we are encumbered by resumes and degrees too much - that so many talented and intelligent people are overlooked by employers because they don't didn't go to the right school ( or any school at all) and don't have the precise code-words on their resumes to get through the first (oftentimes computerized) read. How many FLOs and other geniuses are discarded/held back due to our current way of establishing requirements for a position?

I may add more thoughts later...

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frederick Law Olmsted is a very interesting person and he was much more than a landscape designer (and the first one at that!). This is a great book that just didn't want to put down.

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good biography that takes the reader through Olmsted's life from pre-Civil War days into the 20th Century. I feel like I learned a lot about Olmsted's work life and his personality, most of it new and surprising. He was not trained in landscape architecture. I was fascinated reading about his experiences from before his falling into this career path; especially his experiences as a farmer, journalist, author and with health practices during the Civil War. His books based on his southern travels were significant enough that Malcolm X said that reading Olmsted helped him better understand the horrors of slavery.
However, as a Chicagoan and visitor to Asheville North Carolina, I was also interested and warmed by the descriptions of his late in life efforts with Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Biltmore estate. The author affectively portrayed the pathos of the aging Olmsted's work at this time and i felt almost emotional as I recalled my experience driving up the long entry road of the Biltmore estate.
This book not only provided me a better understanding of Olmsted, but also a better understanding of 20th Century American life in general. The writing was clear and simple and flowed well.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was introduced to Olmstead in the book Devil in the White City, where I found myself wanting more of the making of the world's fair story than the serial killer. This book provided lots more and was quite enjoyable.

Olmstead's childhood was a bit strange, but probably because we have such different views of what a normal childhood is. My own childhood may be deemed 'strange' by those who had different experiences. I am sympathetic to parents who have children who don't seem to be able to figure things out, so have only sympathy for his father. And am glad his father was able to provide the support he did. Doubtful this book would exist if Omstead's father had not been who he was or had the resources he did - perhaps doubtful Central Park or all the other places would be what they are.

I am interested in how Olmstead processed information, how he put things together, what he saw when he looked at what must have been a shambles when he first saw the area that would become Central Park, or the world's fair. I loved the descriptions of his vision - that he looked at the ruins of Biltmore's trees and saw a place to create a forest. I appreciated fully that he believed in infrastructure - that unsexy, unexciting necessity of life. He insisted on roads, not just pretty spaces for flowers.

His experiences in the civil war were equally fascinating because he was able to see the same things in an organization that he saw in a piece of land, and figure out how to make it not only efficient and productive, but beautiful. Odd that the same genius that made his parks amazing, also made him a great administrator. That type of genius is rarely applauded.

His life was strange, but then so was he. The whole marrying his brother's wife after his brother died thing - certainly practical, but strange from the perspective of 2012. I guess he was simply an original and a one-of-a-kind person, like Picasso or Mozart. Perhaps when your mind is focused on creation, the mundane things like marriage or a job get caught up in your originality so your choices about them seem odd.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Justin Martin has chosen to write this biography of Frederick Law Olmsted (FLO) like a story about his subject's life. At first I was a bit uncomfortable with this technique because I wanted to see his research and know his sources, but the more I read, the more the narrative drew me in and made me wonder if this style is more accessible and more appealing to wider audiences. This could very well be why it is written in this way rather than as a more historical text/biography. I was expecting a Caro-esque work but this book is nothing like that. The curiosity about Martin's sources and my desire to see more of the primary documents he consulted to understand how he was using them never went away for me, however, despite getting pulled into the story ... I don't have too much experience with biographies so I don't know if it is indeed preferable for them to read as 'stories'.

Regarding the subject of the text, it is very true to say that Olmsted led a rich and complicated life. He was a true Renaissance Man. Martin makes it a point to discount the idea that FLO was some sort of 'dabbler', and instead points out that it was common for men of his time to be skilled in many lines of work. Olmsted was not only skilled in a variety of work, he excelled in some areas, namely in landscape architecture -- despite not having any training in the nascent discipline. His far-reaching influence on the press through his journalism work as well as his investment in publications of importance today (including THE NATION), forestry, and on cutting edge scientific agriculture, are less well known than his impact, of course, on landscape architecture. The parks, university grounds, and planned communities he designed are legacies that speak for themselves. His intense humanism and progressive ideals, his love of beauty and his kindness shaped his visions and made them timeless.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love loved this biography. Now I need to find a self tour guide for each park. So amazed at the confluence of events and partners that allowed Olmsted to develop into the landscape architect I adore. Martin sets the historical setting surrounding Olmsted's challenges which allowed me to better understand his accomplishments and the challenges Olmsted and his contemporaries dealt with. For example, who today would know that the NYC civic planners named clean water and a park the two main needs of city residents?

[Jedd · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Nature first, second, and third — architecture, after a while." — Calvert Vaux

---

I classified this as a "philosophical development" read even if it is primarily a biography of Frederick Law Olmsted the man because of the large sections of the book devoted to park-making, space creation, and of all things, the abolition of slavery. More than the story of the man itself, Olmsted's biography — fitting given the book's title — is moreso a biography of the many wonderful places and parks that the man created, inspired, and was inspired by, and the circumstances, ideas, experiences and travels (such as his sojourn through the slaveholding Southern states of America in the 1850s — which turned Olmsted into a fervent abolitionist) that fueled his passion for parks, landscapes, social justice, and the force the natural world plays and can play in producing great social good and harmony.

To quote the man himself: "parks are not just for the rich and privileged; they are for everyone. They are a great equalizer, a place where all people are free to enjoy the beauty of nature." An Olmsted park is an "in-between" space: not quite the untamed, raw sprawls of nature, but neither (if not a complete repudiation of!) the rigid, sterile bustle of man-made settlements and structures, uniquely social inventions of prospering communities increasingly restless and conscious of their greater place in the larger world that surrounds them: "democratic developments of the highest significance" that foster a sense of good health, civility, and good character in all who dare approach: rich or poor, sick or well, young or old.

This ability of man to mold and coax to service nature to the needs of a commune is what separates the park from the forest or the lake or the untamed, unexplored island. Note that most of Olmsted's work happens within the general confines of the city. Think railroads and asphalt, smoke-belching factories, power grids and sewers, endless assembly lines. The drudgery of capital and monochrome industry.

What draws me to Olmsted — and I assume what draws many others to him and his work — is this specific hope and color that is made possible — as embodied through places such as Central Park, Boston's Emerald Necklace, the grounds of the Stanford University campus, and even mental hospital and care facilities such as Massachussetts' McLean Hospital whose grounds Olmsted designed and laid out — this idea that the sum of man's knowledge and energy and administrative heft can be and Will Be harnessed towards some clear, future, transcendent Common Good, in harmony with the rest of the natural world we so often struggle against and destroy in the name of competition, wealth, and self-centered notions of "progress." That our vast technical abilities will not be wasted in the name of capitalism, nor the creation of stark, violent poverty, but rather in this realization of the role God gave us as foretold in the book of Genesis: that of great, loving, erudite stewards of creation, capable of seeing one another for the vast, wondrous beings that we are. That we are — if not quite there yet — then so clearly capable of finding and creating and nurturing Common Ground and Common Interest. That our notion of the city and of its public works is not that of this unwieldy, unhappy mob in need of constant suppression and policing but this free, transformative, colorful organ of progress and change that is almost limitless in its capacity to better itself and the world around us.

[Doreen Fritz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I had good reason to like this book (I generally enjoy biographies, this was a book club selection, and I taught for years in Riverside, IL, which Olmsted designed), this was a slog for me. In fact, after wading for two weeks through what amounted to less than half of the book, I just skimmed the rest. WAAAAY too detailed and drawn out. I was almost halfway through the book before we got to his career as a landscape architect -- I suppose it could be argued (and was, in fact, by the author) that his life previous to that point laid the groundwork for his genius as a landscape architect, it mostly read like a doctoral thesis, full of letters, relationships, schooling, failed attempts at different careers, and so on. Maybe if I were stranded on a desert island, I would be able to finish. But I have too many books on my bedside table waiting for my attention, so . . .

[Shannon Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent biography of a troubled soul that was given more opportunities than he deserved but also created brilliant places where nature restores and soothes weary people. What would NYC be without Central Park? Modern city planners would do well do follow his example of carving out intentional, large scale, accessible landscapes for recreation.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olmsted -- casually referred to as FLO -- was one of those individuals whose life took shape in later years, something that seems typical of highly creative people who struggle to find their place and purpose. The details of his life are interesting, although I would have liked to have known more about his landscape designs and less about the early years when Olmsted was flitting from one occupation to another. A reference to the book in a New York Times travel article led me to the reading. The writing style is more casual than is typical in a biography, but I appreciated gaining an understanding of FLO's influence in difference pockets of society.

[Michael James · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much more than Central Park—his legacy and impact span across the country and linger on to the present! Made me feel grateful and inspired!

[Betsey]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! So surprising to me that FLO had a hard time trying to deal with school or college, and had so little success at all the endeavors he tried - until he worked with Central Park! It seemed that that experience finally set him on a path that benefitted so many parts of our country.

[Kathleen Nightingale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember how this book came upon my radar, but obviously, it did.

I enjoyed the second half of the book far more than the first half. I really enjoy history that comes about out of creating structures, or in this case, parks.

I learned more about pre-Red Cross and the Civil War.

The only thing missing was hiccups and sneezes.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justin Martin's brilliantly written biography of Frederick Law Olmsted was as heartbreaking as it was inspiring. Before I started to read, I had only connected Olmsted's name to the design of Central Park. But, as it turned out, that was merely the beginning of a breadth of his accomplishments that criss-crossed the country and continue to be enjoyed by generations long after Olmsted's death. Yet, these successes also contributed to his emotional instability as he pushed himself almost beyond human endurance to complete every project. All in all an extraordinary book about an extraordinary and complicated man.

[Book O Latte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Selama ini saya cuma tahu nama Frederick Law Olmsted sebagai perancang Central Park, New York. Ternyata peran dan pengaruhnya bagi Amerika jauh lebih besar dari itu.

Frederick Law Olmsted lahir 26 April 1822 di Hartford, Connecticut, sebagai keturunan langsung pendiri kota Hartford. Keluarganya termasuk berada, sehingga meskipun jaman itu sekolah di Amerika masih belum jelas bentuknya (biasanya berupa kelas-kelas kecil di gereja, dipandu oleh pendeta. Kadang isinya bukan belajar, malah dipekerjakan di pertanian), Olmsted kecil bisa mengakses buku-buku berkualitas dari rumah neneknya dan perpustakaan Hartford. Olmsted senang membaca, tetapi juga senang berada di alam. Keluarganya membiasakan pergi ke alam terbuka di pinggir kota untuk menikmati suasana. Dua kegiatan ini (membaca dan menikmati alam) sangat berpengaruh membentuk karakter Olmsted.

Olmsted bukan tipe pelajar. Dengan keingintahuannya yang besar, dia lebih cocok menjadi explorer. Dia hanya mau tekun mempelajari sesuatu yang memang menarik untuknya. Karenanya, dia tidak mengenyam pendidikan formal yang teratur seperti layaknya anak-anak keluarga berada lainnya, tidak seperti adiknya yang kemudian bersekolah di Yale untuk menjadi dokter, misalnya.

Tetapi hidup Olmsted penuh petualangan, baik fisik maupun sosial intelektual. Ia berlayar ikut kapal dagang ke Cina, sempat mampir di pulau Jawa dan berlabuh di Anyer. Ia bergaul dengan grup pertemanan adiknya di Yale yang kemudian menjadi teman-teman baiknya seumur hidup. Bahkan ia sempat ikut kuliah (dengan status special student observer) di Yale meskipun cuma 3 bulan. Lalu ia belajar scientific farming dengan serius dari seorang ahli pertanian, dan membuka lahan pertaniannya sendiri. Kemudian ia, adiknya, dan Brace, seorang teman Yale-nya, mengunjungi Inggris dan berjalan-jalan di daerah pinggiran yang hijau. Di sana Olmsted mengunjungi sebuah taman kota umum dan ia terkesima melihat taman tempat orang-orang dari berbagai kelas sosial menikmatinya bersama-sama. Ia juga mengunjungi taman dari sebuah kastil, dan tidak suka dengan susahnya akses memasuki taman itu bagi publik. Ini menjadi cikal bakal visinya bagi Central Park: sebuah taman publik bagi semua orang.

Semua petualangannya ini didukung penuh secara materi oleh ayahnya yang sangat menyayanginya.
Olmsted yang tidak bisa diam kemudian mencari petualangan baru. Ia dipekerjakan oleh suratkabar New York Daily Times yang baru berdiri (di masa depan menjadi New York Times), untuk pergi ke selatan dan meliput tentang situasi perbudakan. Pada masa itu isu abolisi perbudakan sedang memanas antara Utara dan Selatan. Olmsted sendiri awalnya memandang abolisi seharusnya dilakukan secara gradual, karena budak-budak yang mendadak bebas tidak punya pendidikan dan skill yang cukup untuk hidup mandiri. Opini ini cukup populer di masa itu. Tetapi sambil berkeliling di perkebunan di Selatan dan melihat sendiri situasi perbudakan di sana, Olmsted berubah pikiran.
Berbeda dengan sentimen anti perbudakan pada umumnya yang berdasarkan moralitas, Olmsted memandangnya dari segi ekonomi. Perbudakan adalah sistem yang tidak efisien. Tanpa insentif, budak tidak punya keinginan untuk bekerja. Selain itu, orang-orang kulit putih pun jadi kehilangan skill dan keinginan bekerja juga, karena 'bekerja itu urusan budak'. Olmsted adalah orang yang sangat menghargai kerja. "Pantas saja infrastruktur di Selatan sangat buruk dan tidak ada yang berusaha memperbaikinya," lapor Olmsted.

Percakapannya dengan para budak yang ditemuinya juga ikut mengubah pandangannya tentang perbudakan. Meskipun ada budak-budak yang tidak mau bebas (kebetulan tuan tanahnya baik?), tetapi banyak yang ingin bebas dan memiliki tanah garapan sendiri. Sebuah insiden penyiksaan budak mengeraskan pendirian Olmsted untuk mendukung abolisi.

Pulang dari perjalanannya ke Selatan, Olmsted kembali ke New York dan mencari pekerjaan baru. Kala itu New York sudah memutuskan area yang akan dijadikan Central Park, dan membutuhkan superintendent untuk urusan pembersihan area. Olmsted melamar dan diterima. Awalnya orang yang didapuk untuk merancang taman ini adalah Andrew Downing, seorang perancang taman terkemuka. Namun dalam perjalanan kapal ke New York, ia tenggelam. Maka diputuskanlah untuk mengadakan kompetisi perancangan Central Park. Calvert Vaux, seorang arsitek didikan Inggris, yang juga asisten Andrew Downing, mengajak Olmsted bekerjasama. Sebagai superintendent Central Park, pengetahuan Olmsted tentang lahan sangat berguna dalam perancangan. Namun peran Olmsted dalam kemitraan ini lebih dari itu. Ia lebih pandai bicara dan bernegosiasi daripada Vaux, ia punya banyak koneksi media, ia berpengetahuan luas tentang tanaman dari pengalamannya bertani, dan ia bisa menangkap 'genius loci' (spirit of the place) dan mengekspresikannya dalam rancangan lansekap. Tidak heran jika kemudian publik menganggap Olmstedlah arsitek utamanya (sesuatu yang di kemudian hari membuat Vaux jengkel).

Singkat kata, rancangan Vaux dan Olmsted menang kompetisi, dan Central Park mulai dibuka untuk publik 11 Desember 1858.

Sementara itu, tulisan-tulisannya di New York Daily Times (yang kemudian dibukukan, juga diterbitkan di Inggris) membantu mempengaruhi opini publik di Utara dan di Inggris untuk mendukung abolisi perbudakan.
Pertentangan soal perbudakan ini memuncak menjadi Perang Saudara.

Lagi-lagi Olmsted tidak bisa berdiam diri. Meskipun pada saat itu ia baru mengalami patah tulang, ia ingin melakukan sesuatu untuk negara. Dari pengalamannya di Central Park, terbukti Olmsted ternyata berbakat sebagai manajer. Ia kemudian ikut mengorganisir United States Sanitary Commission, suatu badan perbantuan kesehatan dan logistik bagi para prajurit di medan perang, bekerjasama dengan biro medis pemerintah. Begitu penting peran USSC, sampai seorang sejarawan mengatakan USSC inilah yang ikut berjasa melahirkan American Red Cross di masa depan.

Masih panjang petualangan Olmsted setelah perang. Ia pindah ke California menjadi manajer tambang emas yang ternyata bangkrut. Di sana ia 'menemukan' keindahan Yosemite dan lalu ikut berjuang menjadikan tempat itu taman nasional yang dilindungi, supaya tidak diakuisisi oleh pengusaha-pengusaha tambang. Kembali ke Timur, ia yang sekarang sudah terkenal sebagai perancang Central Park, ditawari proyek-proyek perancangan taman dan kota di banyak tempat. Di Buffalo, NY, selain merancang taman ia juga aktif memperjuangkan daerah seputar Niagara Falls yang tidak teratur. Ia dan Vaux juga menawarkan rancangan lansekap bagi banyak kota, institusi, dan orang-orang kaya. Ada yang tembus, tapi banyak juga yang tertunda atau ditolak. Brooklyn, Chicago, Albany, Providence, Maine College, Yale, Tarrytown, semua pernah jadi objek rancangan Olmsted & Vaux.
Bahkan Branch Brook Park Newark, New Jersey, tempat saya piknik di bawah cherry blossom tiap musim semi, pun awalnya adalah rancangan Olmsted, meskipun realisasinya tertunda dan baru puluhan tahun kemudian dikembangkan oleh anaknya, FLO Jr.

Karena suatu hal Vaux dan Olmsted pisah kemitraan dan jalan sendiri-sendiri. Vaux yang arsitek merancang bangunan-bangunan di New York City sementara Olmsted fokus di lansekap. Di masa ini Olmsted merancang lansekap Stanford University, Capitol grounds, dan Biltmore Estate milik keluarga Vanderbilt. Dan di akhir hayatnya ia merancang area Chicago World Fair (White City) dan jaringan area hijau Emerald Necklace kota Boston.

***

Hidup Olmsted berawal di Connecticut dan berakhir di Massachusetts. Pas sekali saya selesai baca buku ini ketika sedang melewati Connecticut dalam perjalanan kereta ke Massachusetts.
Saya pikir perjalanan hidup Olmsted ini sangat inspiratif dan luar biasa. Ia menyentuh hidup banyak orang dan mereformasi struktur kehidupan sosial di Amerika melalui tulisan dan karya-karyanya. Baginya keindahan alam adalah anugerah Tuhan yang berhak dinikmati semua orang, tidak peduli kaya atau miskin, tidak peduli strata sosialnya. Selain itu, Olmsted sudah berpikir tentang konservasi lingkungan di saat Amerika sedang bersemangat membuka dan mengakuisisi lahan. Karenanya semua rancangannya dibuat dengan publik dan perlindungan lingkungan sebagai fokusnya (Makanya buat saya jadi ironis bahwa di Indonesia, Central Park adalah nama mall, hehehe).

Penulis Justin Martin, juga berhasil membuat buku ini sangat memikat untuk dibaca. Bacanya betah meskipun tebalnya hampir 500 halaman. Saya tempatkan sejajar dengan Walter Isaacson dan Stephen Budiansky sebagai penulis biografi yang sukses.

Buku ini saya pikir penting buat dibaca para arsitek, untuk inspirasi spirit keadilan sosial dan lingkungan dalam perancangan.

Ada satu lagi pelajaran penting yang saya tangkap dari biografi Olmsted: privilege. Ya, privilege itu jelas ada. Tanpa ayah yang berkelebihan dalam materi, tanpa status sosial yang tinggi, tanpa koneksi media, banyak hal yang tidak bisa dilakukan oleh Olmsted. Tetapi Olmsted memanfaatkan privilege-nya dengan sebaik-baiknya, selain bagi dirinya juga bagi banyak orang lain yang tidak seberuntung dirinya.

Setiap orang punya privilege, tidak selalu berupa materi, tetapi juga situasi, kondisi, dan kesempatan.
Privilege saya, salah satunya, adalah akses ke buku-buku ilmiah populer yang bagus-bagus dan susah dicari di Indonesia. Maka mengikuti spirit Olmsted, sudah sepantasnya saya memanfaatkan privilege ini untuk minimal berbagi pengetahuan dalam bentuk review.

Belajar dari Olmsted, mari kita manfaatkan privilege kita untuk kebaikan bersama. Anda kaya? Anda cerdas? Banyak koneksi? Manfaatkan kekayaan, kecerdasan, dan koneksi anda untuk membantu orang, lingkungan, negara, dunia. Dengan seperti inilah kita bisa menjadi rahmat bagi sekalian alam.
"Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation" - Aristoteles

-dydy-

[Jesse Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius of Place relates Olmsted’s life as very much a product of the 19th century, especially the deep Romanticism of that age, yet also something very modern, a person struggling thoughtfully with his personality traits and character strengths, discovering himself through forays in writing and publishing, administration and public service, and even farming and business, though Olmsted clearly had little entrepreneurial spirit per se. Like the mini-Hamlets we all are, he struggled to suit his nature to his circumstances, and stumbled into the niches where he could make the biggest difference. As a life led learning from failures, and turning them into achievements, Olmsted’s story is a model for all of us today.

Whether it be ourselves, or our children and students, we must be very patient with people who do not at first succeed along life paths that seem “normal” to the contemporary society. Young Fred Olmsted was a smart but dreamy boy, who rarely finished his projects. He tried Yale, but drifted away; discovered girls, but didn’t marry until much later; he tried farming, but soon realized that writing was more his calling. It certainly paid off for young Olmsted to have had a generous and patient father -- one wonders how this man gained the wisdom to believe in his son even though the path to successes was never direct or simple, or without the need for more and more investment dollars. As Martin notes, it was clear early on that “settling into adulthood was going to be drastically more difficult for him [Olmsted] than for most people.”

That Olmsted succumbed neither to debauchery nor to depression was a credit to the spirit of the Romantic age. Sartor Resartus, Thomas Carlyle’s testament to constructing our own meanings, on our own, in a chaotic universe, became Olmsted’s “grand theory.” Any and all work that lead to help for others was work with meaning, be it writing, or farming, or designing something for all to enjoy.

Central Park and other landscape experiences we can enjoy today thanks to Olmsted’s designs and management are clearly connected to his experiences of Carlyle, and John Ruskin, and the grand vistas of European and American nature-feeling that were in full voice during the middle of the 19th century. He learned from early landscape design movements in Europe, then helped shape experiences of nature for the new urbanizing populations of the United States. On a stint out west, Olmsted entered the Yosemite River Valley just after its natives had been forced out, and was instrumental in establishing the area as one of the first national conservation projects. In later chapters of the book, we learn how the mature and then senescent Olmsted continued to push for new ways of accommodating nature in the expanding urban and industrial landscapes, with the first managed forests. He even trained the first leader of the US Forest Service!

Where the 18th century had been all about pushing toward a world of order, the 19th reacts with assertions of human feeling and will, of the primacy of the individual, and of “freedom” as a basic value for all humans. Olmsted tracks with this Romantic spirit, celebrating human freedom and the primacy of the will as expressed by our feelings and sentiments. As a reporter for the New York Times during its first years, he traveled to the South and witnessed slavery, which turned him into a full-throated abolitionist and author of The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller's Observations On Cotton And Slavery In The American Slave States, 1853-1861, still considered one of the great documents of southern life before the Civil War, according to Martin.

It is a testament to the humanity of the age that people found new ways to extend value to each other’s lives. During the Civil War, Olmsted was remarkably effective as the first director of the United States Sanitary Commission, or USSC, which reduced deaths. The military saw no point, at first, in maximizing the basic medical measures that would save soldier’s lives. But others saw things differently. Bring the first aid teams to the front! Monitor the men, get them the boots and blankets they need! Only after it began to illustrate its own effectiveness did the USSC gain the traction to become the progenitor of other public health institutions, like the Red Cross.

Olmsted wasn’t the inventor of the USSC; in many cases, he was the right person to manage what others had helped bring into existence. Reformers like Reverend Henry Bellows, himself a consultant to the Women’s Central Association of Relief, a group of ordinary New Yorkers who wanted to make a difference, introduced the concept of wartime sanitation on hearing how well it had worked during the Crimean War, and got it approved by the Lincoln administration, and Bellows made sure to employ the best person he could find to direct the commission -- Olmsted. And Olmsted would only successfully implement the mission when he gained enough allies in the administration to push the military into support. There are so many connections adding up to any big new idea that deserves to count as “progress.” Each of us can play a role.

In this long, unabashedly meandering biography, Mr. Martin reflects at length on the deeper meaning of Olmsted’s character and personality, often through illustrations of the many close associates and family members with whom Olmsted experienced friendship and enmity, honesty and deceit. Young Olmsted depended on his loving father, but older Olmsted had only tough love for his own son. Perhaps the most interesting relationship in the book is the enduring friendship and professional collaboration with Calvert Vaux, a comic character one would love to see portrayed in film.

Vaux was a tiny man—standing four feet ten inches tall—and anxious, too. He constantly pushed his spectacles up on his nose. He was easily flustered, stumbling and stammering, losing his train of thought. In spite of this manner, Vaux managed to communicate one thing loud and clear: He burned with a white flame for pure art.

These two men stumbled into each other and managed to take up complementary functions for the design and construction of Central Park, and then many projects after, for decades. A particularly charming image is of the two of them, both men small of stature but great in ambition, working into the night at 358 Broadway, still young in those last few years before the Civil War. The two men dissolved their common practice later on, and were on again, off again, in the decades after. In 1865, Olmsted was out West, working for the Mariposa Estate, John C. Frémont’s gold-mining property in California -- and a project that was just entering the final stages of its collapse -- when Vaux tempted Olmsted back with letters saying that a project to design Central Park was of greater significance, and would garner more attention. In a particularly fine example of analyzing primary sources, Martin depicts the two men’s emotional, and often delayed, correspondence between America’s west and east coasts, and mines it for deep insight. “Vaux showed a wily side and a deep understanding of his friend’s psychology.”

The Mariposa episode itself would make a great standalone magazine article, with clear lessons for any person who has worked competently and in good faith within a system that was too full of negative feedback cycles to be saved. We should work on our strengths and stay true to our values, even when the project is headed for failure. It was a digression from the main Olmsted plot when Martin turns to examine the fate of John C. Frémont, a great celebrity and symbol of Western progress during the 1840s and 50s, but a broken and lost spirit, by 1865. Negligence and corruption overcame ambition and influence. “As for Frémont,” concludes Martin, “He’d go down as one of the nineteenth century’s greatest riches-to-rags story. Within a few years, he’d be forced to look to the kindness of his few remaining friends for his next meal and a place to lay his head at night. Once worth $10 million, he died nearly penniless.”

This chilling fate was not at all what Olmsted faced. His reputation remained sterling all the way to end, with legions of devoted friends, followers, and business partners. I think he appeals to me even more when we realize that he was not of inhuman capacity. He was ambitious but directionless as a youngster, sober but often stubborn as an older person. He was an avid reader who also wrote very well, but he was not warped by fame or fortune. When he died, it was at the end of a long and active life, and surrounded by his loved ones, even if, sadly, he also experienced dramatic cognitive decline. We, the vast hordes of ordinary folk, can connect with Olmsted more so than other biographical subjects of the nineteenth century, though his greatness is easily apparent, every time we walk the meandering paths of Central Park, and marvel that we are on an adventure, free of cars and horse traffic, faced with trees, and hillocks, and the blue sky rising above the city.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted” – written by Justin Martin and published in 2011 by Da Capo Press. This was such an interesting chronicle of the life of “a park maker, environmentalist and abolitionist” who left his imprint on many of our country’s scenic wonders. I was surprised at all the endeavors Olmsted was involved in, although he is rightly most recognized for his skills as a landscape architect, “…he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills.” He was an enthusiastic, talented big-picture guy and administrator, and Martin capably details his involvement in many ventures, most memorably Central Park, the US Sanitary Commission, the Chicago World’s Columbian Expo, and the Biltmore estate. The chronology of his sometimes tragic personal life was also interesting, as he rubbed shoulders with many influential people of the time. This solidly researched book highlights the life of a man who is deserving of higher acclaim and also provides a fascinating look at late 1800s America.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a totally fascinating, genius of a man! This one man had a life so vast it was beyond most people's dreams, and of course as I am a New Yorker, I love him most for creating Central and Riverside Parks (with his partner Vaux). From the rough, rocky terrain of huge rocks and makeshift villages and groups of squatters, he created a wonderland. In between he created what would become the American Red Cross from something like two surgeons to an army of doctors and nurses. Wonderful book, wonderful man...and most of the time he was scrambling to get enough income to take care of his large family, which including his dead brother's children. He married his brother's wife after his brother died.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this - I learned a lot about Olmsted and certainly gained a tremendous appreciation for his impact in many areas of American life - literary, public health, conservation - as well as landscape architecture. For all that, I don't think that it was especially well written - it was fine, but nothing special. At times, the language seemed anachronistic and that pushed me away from immersion in the 19th century. I think that I would give this 3.5 stars. A very good book, but not a great one.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

FLO led an interesting life, and this book tells his story well. Besides designing Central Park, he was a sailor, managed a gold mine, wrote several travel books and anti-slavery pieces, and was one of the first environmentalists. At times I found the writing a bit cutesy, and sometimes the author seemed to aggrandize FLO's influence over his times, but overall, I liked it. I would recommend this book to people who like biographies or are interested in the history of landscape architecture.

[Gay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous! Parks for the general public; design of public spaces.

[Cheryl Gatling]

One of the last jobs Frederick Law Olmsted worked on was landscaping the grounds of Biltmore, the Vanderbilt family’s North Carolina estate. One of the touches of genius that he created there was a long, winding approach road. Visitors climbed up the mountain through a tunnel of greenery and flowering bushes. Then, at the last turn, a vista opened up, and they could see for the first time the magnificent mansion appearing out of nowhere. They were struck dumb by its grandeur.

Olmsted’s life was kind of like that. He had a magnificent peak. He, together with his partner Calvert Vaux, invented the profession of landscape architect. It wasn’t a thing before, and forever after, it would be a thing. The two of them created Central Park in New York City, which changed the way we think of cities, and parks. Olmsted, sometimes with Vaux, sometimes on his own, would go on to create parks for Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, as well as the campuses of hospitals, universities and other institutions. Olmsted also landscaped the grounds of the Chicago World’s Fair.

By the end of his life, Olmsted was the preeminent name in landscape architecture. He was the most sought after. He received honorary degrees from both Harvard and Yale. His beautiful creations were admired in their day, and many have survived, still beautiful, and still beloved. But, oh, the long, slow path to that success. When he was starting out, no one would have predicted Olmsted’s success. One would have been hard pressed to envision any success.

If Olmsted ended his life the patron saint of bringing the beauties of nature to the masses, he began as the patron saint of extended adolescence. He did not love school. He had only one semester of college, although he hung out at Yale with his brother John and his friends, some of whom would be friends for life. He became a clerk for an import-export company, which was dreary. He went to China as a sailor, but the voyage was awful. The captain was a hard man, and starved his men into malnutrition.

Olmsted tried farming. He got his own farm, which prospered while he paid attention to it, and floundered when he lost interest. Olmsted became a journalist, traveling through the South and writing newspaper articles about slavery. He traveled in Europe. During the Civil War he became head of the Sanitary Commission, which procured needed supplies for the health of the soldiers. He became the manager of a gold mine in California. The mine went bankrupt, but being out west allowed Olmsted to visit Yosemite. He was awed by its natural beauty, and he became one of the voices advocating for its preservation.

All of this (including, I forgot, an attempt at magazine publishing) was bankrolled by Olmsted’s indulgent father. Many would have criticized this parenting strategy then, and many would criticize it now, but in the end it worked. Although, even once Olmsted discovered his gift for landscape architecture, his life was never very happy, or secure. His brother John, whom he had been very close to, died. Olmsted married his brother John’s widow, a marriage that seemed to have more of duty about it than of joy. Several of his own children died. His landscape architecture projects were often a battle for funding or control, and some of his plans came to nothing. He and his partner Vaux quarreled and separated. Olmsted worried how he would support his family, and pay back his father. He suffered nervous breakdowns, exhaustion, insomnia, and a variety of health problems. In age he developed dementia, and spend his last few years in an institution, one whose grounds he had landscaped.

But in the end, the beautiful parks he created have outlived him, and by changing the way we think about parks, and nature, and cities, he has truly changed the world.

[Jeff Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frederick Law Olmstead led an incredible life. He started out as a surveyor, then went to sea, traveling from the east coast to China, then with the health of his father became a farmer, a traveling correspondent before entering the new field of landscape architecture with his work on designing New York’s Central Park. While he would continue in this field the rest of his life, he took time out to run the United States Sanitary Commission (a Red Cross forerunner) during the American Civil War and later running a gold mine in California. While running the mines in California, he became enthralled with Yosemite and lobbied for the sight to be saved for future generations years before John Muir. His travels in the American South changed his mind on slavery and his books on these travels were probably second to Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in building abolitionist support. Because of this writing popularity in Great Britain, he’s partly credited with keeping England out of the American Civil War.

But what Frederick Law Olmstead is mostly known for is his landscape designs. He felt parks should be for the people and that they should help our emotional state by allowing city dwellers an opportunity to be in nature. Many of his parks and estates still exist and he influenced generations of landscapers who followed him. Not only does he have Central Park (which he designed with Calvert Vaux) to claim, but Brooklyn’s Prospect Park along with parks in Boston, Chicago, Buffalo, Rochester, and a host of other cities. He influenced park designs in San Francisco and other places. With his work in Buffalo, he helped preserve Niagara Falls (sadly, he came upon this a little late, but it appears it was more of a tourist trap in the 19th Century than today). His landscape ideas shaped Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair and he designed the landscape for the grounds of the Biltmore House near Asheville, North Carolina. The later also helped establish forestry as a scientific study in America.

In a way, Olmstead’s early life was full of failure. Thankfully, he had a wealthy father who helped his son out on many occasions, such as buying farms for him and sending him on fact-finding journeys through Europe. These trips helped prepare Olmstead for his career. His life also had its share of sorry, including his brother’s early death and the deaths of friends. He would later marry Mary, his brother’s wife, and adopt their children. Mary would also give birth to several children, two who died young. His adopted brother’s son, John, and his own natural son, Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr, would continue their father’s role as premier landscape architect through the first half of the 20th Century.

Olmstead was always interested in words and would often look for the right word for a project. Many words we use today came from Olmstead and his associates. His first park in Boston was a marshy area in which he named “the Boston Fens.” Fen is an old English word for marsh and lives on now in baseball with “Fenway Park.”

Sadly, Olmstead began suffering from some sort of dementia after the Chicago World’s Fair and the creation of Biltmore. He would spend his last years in an institution and died in 1903.

I have been aware of his name for some time, and knew of his work for the Chicago’s World’s Fair from Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City. I also knew he designed the Biltmore and Central Park, but had no idea how many other parks and estates he had designed during his amazing life, nor his influence in saving Yosemite, in ending slavery, and in what would become the American Red Cross. I recommend this book!