"Jerry Frank’s environmental history of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park is an admirable presentation of how two competing visions of the area over the past century worked together to make and remake the park."—Montana The Magazine of Western History
"Frank’s writing is lively and engaging, and his arguments are clear. . . . [A]n accessible case study of national park policy that will appeal to thoughtful part visitors and to students of environmental history."—Journal of American History
"Help[s] us to understand not only the individual park but also the total park system."—Pacific Historical Review
"Succinct, well researched, clearly written, and accessible to anyone interested in learning more about this particular park and the national park idea more generally."—Environmental History
"Frank’s book is a valuable addition to our literature on the histories of Colorado, the NPS, and the western environment. Throw a copy in your back seat or backpack the next time you visit the RMNP; Frank’s narrative will help explain the complex history behind much of the seemingly pristine natural world you encounter."—Western Historical Quarterly
"This book is as beautiful as its subject. . . . A landscape so many of its visitors love and which, by reading Making Rocky Mountain National Park, they will now better understand."—Journal of Tourism History
"Frank has added to our understanding of how Rocky Mountain National Park came to be the place and experience it is today."—New Mexico Historical Review
"A highly readable volume that will be of interest to park visitors and scholars interested in environmental history of the United States, national parks and protected areas, wildlife conservation, the American West, tourism, outdoor recreation, and natural resource management policy."—H-Net Reviews
"This well-researched, engaging, and visitor-center worthy study traces the first century of Rocky Mountain National Park. Refreshingly, the author proceeds thematically rather than chronologically, devoting a cleverly titled chapter each to cars, trails, trees, elk, fish, and ski slopes."—Kansas History
“America’s national parks may be the best idea we ever had, but as this book powerfully argues, the idea of what a park should be has had many different answers. With remarkable research and crystal-clear prose, Frank has tracked those answers through the history of one of our most beloved parks. After reading his story of conflicts and interventions, we will never again be able to say with naïve assurance that a park is where nature is protected.”
—Donald Worster, author of A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir
“It is tempting to see the preservation of a national park as a singular and heroic act. But as Frank shows us, park landscapes are not simply preserved; they are constantly made, unmade, and remade in a series of novel ecological experiments that tell us as much about our own desires as they do the needs of nature. Making Rocky Mountain National Park is an unflinching account of this complex history and essential reading for anyone interested in the future of national park preservation."—Paul S. Sutter, author of Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement
“Here is Rocky Mountain National Park as a living example of human, animal, cultural, and environmental interaction. An excellent book and one to match the scenery—beautiful and thought-provoking.”—Annie Gilbert Coleman, author of Ski Style: Sport and Culture in the Rockies
“Rocky Mountain National Park deserves this thoughtful environmental history for its centennial. Frank presents an eye-opening look at the extensive human intervention that has created this ‘natural’ wonderland.”—Tom Noel, Director of Public History, Preservation & Colorado Studies, University of Colorado Denver
