The Making of Yosemite: James Mason Hutchings and the Origin of America's Most Popular Park.

Lawrence, Kansas:: University Press of Kansas, 2011.. 1st Printing.. Hardbound . BINDING/CONDITION: red cloth; a Fine book, with a Fine dust jacket.. 8vo (about 9.5 inches tall) . Notes, bibliography, index. Description: This copy is Signed by the author, with a personalized note. Includes a few black and white illustrations. The publisher's blurb reads: ''Leader of the first tourist expedition into Yosemite in 1855, James Mason Hutchings became a tireless promoter of the valley, and of himself. Seeking to create an alternate to California's Gold Rush social chaos, Hutchings whetted the public enthusiasm for this unspoiled land by mass producing a lithograph of Yosemite Falls, while his Hutchings' California Magazine beat the drum for tourism. But because of his later legal imbroglios over the park, Hutchings was effectively written out of its history, and today he is largely viewed as an opportunist who made a career out of exploiting Yosemite. Now Jen Huntley removes the tarnish from Hutchings' image. She portrays him instead as a 'connector' who brought artists to Yosemite and Yosemite to Americans, and uses his career as a lens through which to view the contests and debates surrounding the creation of Yosemite, and by extension, America's emerging ethic of land conservation.''