Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) designed New York City's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Chicago's South Park and Jackson Park, Montreal's Mount Royal Park, the park systems of Boston and Buffalo, and many others. But Olmsted also designed parkways and neighborhoods, reshaping cities around their parks. He thus reinvented the American urban landscape as a democratic outdoor setting that encouraged a new kind of participation in city life. Olmsted was one of the most gifted of American writers of his generation: prior to designing Central Park, he had written five important books,...