Stretching 1,200 kilometres across six countries, the colossal mountains of the Alps dominate Europe, geographically and historically. Enlightenment thinkers felt the sublime and magisterial peaks were the very embodiment of nature, Romantic poets looked to them for divine inspiration, and Victorian explorers tested their ingenuity and courage against them. Located at the crossroads between powerful states, the Alps have played a crucial role in the formation of European history, a place of intense cultural fusion as well as fierce conflict between warring nations. A diverse range of flora and fauna have made themselves at home in this harsh environment, which today welcomes over 100 million tourists a year. Leading Alpine scholar Jon Mathieu tells the story of the people who have lived in and been inspired by these mountains and valleys, from the ancient peasants of the Neolithic to the cyclists of the Tour de France. Far from being a remote and backward corner of Europe, the Alps are shown by Mathieu to have been a crucible of new ideas and technologies at the heart of the European story.

Though the Alps may appear to be a peaceful place, the famed mountains once provided the backdrop for a political, environmental, and cultural battle as Germany and Austria struggled to modernize. Tait Keller examines the mountains' threefold role in transforming the two countries, as people sought respite in the mountains, transformed and shaped them according to their needs, and over time began to view them as national symbols and icons of individualism. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Alps were regarded as a place of solace from industrial development and the stresses of urban life. Soon, however, mountaineers, or the so-called apostles of the Alps, began carving the crags to suit their whims, altering the natural landscape with trails and lodges, and seeking to modernize and nationalize the high frontier. Disagreements over the meaning of modernization opened the mountains to competing agendas and hostile ambitions. Keller examines the ways in which these opposing approaches corresponded to the political battles, social conflicts, culture wars, and environmental crusades that shaped modern Germany and Austria, placing the Alpine borderlands at the heart of the German question of nationhood.

America's greatest photographer on his greatest subject--featuring the Yosemite Special Edition Prints, a collectible collection of photographs selected by Ansel Adams during his lifetime, yet never before published in book form. The photographs of Ansel Adams are among America's finest artistic treasures, and form the basis of his tremendous legacy of environmental activism. In the late 1950s, Adams selected eight photographs of Yosemite National Park to offer exclusively to park visitors as affordable souvenirs. He hoped that these images might inspire tourists to become activists by transmitting to them the same awe and respect for nature that Yosemite had instilled in him. Over the following decades, Adams added to this collection to create a stunning view of Yosemite in all its majesty. These photographs, the Yosemite Special Edition Prints, form the core of this essential volume. Adams' luminous images of Yosemite's unique rock formations, waterfalls, meadows, trees, and nature details are among the most distinctive of his career. Today, with America's public lands increasingly under threat, his creative vision remains as relevant and convincing as ever. Introduced by bestselling photographer Pete Souza, with an essay by Adams' darkroom assistant Alan Ross, Ansel Adams' Yosemite is a powerful continuation of Adams' artistic and environmental legacies, and a compelling statement during a precarious time for the American earth.

Australian Alps is a fascinating guide to Kosciuszko, Alpine and Namadgi National Parks. It introduces the reader to Australia’s highest mountains, their climate, geology and soils, plants and animals and their human history. It traces the long-running conflicts between successive users of the mountains and explores the difficulties in managing the land for nature conservation. The book gives credit to little-known or understood stories of the people who have worked to establish better understanding of the Alps, especially their vital role as the major water catchments for south-eastern Australia. This new edition updates many themes, including the involvement of Aboriginal people in the region, catchment function and condition, pest plants and animals, fire and the issue of climate change. Written by a specialist with over 25 years’ experience in community education in and about the Australian Alps National Parks, this new edition features many excellent natural history and historical photographs. Ideal as support information for field trips, it will make a wonderful memento of an alpine visit. This book acts as a detailed companion to park interpretive material and to topic-specific field guides: it caters for readers who want a broad overview of areas of interest they will come across in a visit to the mountains.