Accessibility Tools

America's Switzerland

Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, the Growth Years

by James H. Pickering

Hardcover Price $36.95
Paperback Price $28.95
Ebook Price $31.95
30-day ebook rental price $9.99

Buy Now


"James H. Pickering, who wrote about the early years in Rocky Mountain National Park in a previous book, chronicles Estes from 1903 to 1945 in this fact-filled, nicely written volume. . . . America's Switzerland is the most extensive work to date on the area. If Pickering overlooked a fact, it's probably not worth knowing."
—Sunday Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News

"This book chronicles the dual history of the town of Estes Park and the nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. The story begins at the turn of the 20th century, where the author's This Blue Hollow: Estes Park, the Early Years, 1859-1915 (CH, Sep'00, 38-0517) left off, and it closes at the end of WW II. English professor Pickering (Univ. of Houston) is a long-time summer resident of Estes Park, and he brings to his study a familiarity with and love for the area. His primary sources include memoirs, oral histories, correspondence, park archival materials, and newspapers."
—Choice

"Readers who know Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park will enjoy reading how the area developed."
—Journal of the West

"Anyone interested in the Estes Park area, or in national parks and national park policy, will enjoy America's Switzerland."
—Mark Barringer, University of Texas

"The author has conducted impressive and wide-ranging research in primary and secondary sources at area libraries, archives, and historical societies; he has tapped oral histories, articles and monographs, photographs, theses and dissertations, diaries, government reports, and newspapers."
—John R. Jameson, Kent State University

“Pickering carefully, yet entertainingly, provides background on many of the familiar places and names in one of Colorado's most beloved tourist towns."
The Denver Westerns Roundup

America's Switzerland, a companion volume to "This Blue Hollow," is the first comprehensive history of Rocky Mountain National Park and its neighboring town, Estes Park, during the decades when travel became a middle-class rite of summer. Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources and extensive archival research, James H. Pickering reveals how the evolution of tourism and America's fascination with the "western experience" shaped the park and town from 1903 to 1945.

America's Switzerland provides extensive information on how Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park—the most visited national park west of the Mississippi—developed to welcome ever-growing crowds. Pickering profiles the individuals behind the development and details the challenges park and town confronted during decades that included two world wars and the Great Depression.

 

James H. Pickering, the author-editor of more than thirty books on Estes Park, Colorado, and the American West, was appointed Historian Laureate of the Town of Estes Park in 2006. A retired professor of English and university administrator, he served as director of the Honors College at Michigan State University and as dean, provost, and president at the University of Houston.

University Press of Colorado Logo

Details

  • Hardcover Price: $36.95
  • Paperback Price: $28.95
  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64642-064-3
  • Ebook Price: $31.95
  • 30-day ebook rental price: $9.99
  • EISBN: 978-0-87081-862-2
  • Publication Year: 2005
  • Pages: 472
  • Illustrations: 72 B&W photographs, 3 B&W illustrations, 8 maps
  • Discount Type: Trade
  • Author: by James H. Pickering
  • ECommerce Code: 978-0-87081-806-6
  • Get Permissions: Get Permission

Related Titles

Browse Related Titles Tagged Under:

University Press of Colorado University of Alaska Press Utah State University Press University of Wyoming Press