Book About Yellowstone Wins American History Prize

New York Times

17-03-2025

Randall K. Wilson, the author of 'A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World's First National Park,' has been named the winner of the New York Historical's 2025 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize, which is given annually for the best work of American history or biography.
In a news release, the historical society described Yellowstone National Park, which opened in 1872 and is visited today by roughly 4.5 million people a year, as 'one of the few entities capable of bridging ideological divides in the United States.' Even the name exerts a powerful cultural pull: In recent years, the television show 'Yellowstone' became a surprise hit.
But Wilson, a professor of environmental studies at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, also emphasizes how it has long been a site of conflict, whether between 19th-century settlers and Native American nations or between 20th-century Americans with different ideas about how to balance wilderness preservation and public access.
Wilson's book, published by Counterpoint, includes discussion of bison herds, land disputes and wildfire management. But it also features made-for-Hollywood moments at Yellowstone and beyond. In one chapter, he describes the scene in 1943 when the actor Wallace Beery, veteran of many westerns, dressed up like a cowboy and led a group of armed ranchers and their cattle in a protest against the newly established Jackson Hole National Monument in Wyoming.
In a review in The Los Angeles Times, Lorraine Berry called the book 'great reading,' saying, 'Wilson's talent as a storyteller shines through in turning dry bureaucratic bumbling and crony corruption into a focus on individual exploits and entertaining tales.'
In a statement, the Historical's board chair, Agnes Hsu-Tang, said Wilson's book had also 'redefined the concept of a biography,' telling 'a more encompassing history about America than most biographies of Americans.'
The prize, which comes with a cash reward of $50,000, honors books that are accessible to a general readership. It generally focuses on works of political history focused on presidents, leaders and other prominent figures, but has also honored work with broader themes that resonate in the current moment. In 2021, a year into the coronavirus pandemic, the winner was 'The Year of Peril: America in 1942,' by Tracy Campbell, which challenged nostalgic memories of the World War II years as a time of unbroken national unity.
Other past winners of the prize include Alan Taylor, Beverly Gage and Jonathan Eig.