This book investigates the place of spirituality within the American experiment with public management of land, particularly with respect to national parks. It focuses on national parks because they have received the most attention and development on the part of the state and the visiting public. National parks serve as symbolic representations of the nation, including both its natural and cultural heritage. They are tremendously popular destinations, attracting over 350 million visits yearly. They hold political significance out of proportion to their size, visitation, and economic impact. Th ... More

This book investigates the place of spirituality within the American experiment with public management of land, particularly with respect to national parks. It focuses on national parks because they have received the most attention and development on the part of the state and the visiting public. National parks serve as symbolic representations of the nation, including both its natural and cultural heritage. They are tremendously popular destinations, attracting over 350 million visits yearly. They hold political significance out of proportion to their size, visitation, and economic impact. The book examines how national parks’ status as the pinnacle of nature in America relates to the spiritual sensibilities that so many visitors express. The larger implications of this volume concern a much broader phenomenon: the form of religion under conditions of secularity.