City Parks: Public Places, Private Thoughts

The spirit and beauty of the world's most loved city parks, captured in breathtaking photographs and the evocative words of eighteen celebrated writers and influential figures, including Ian Frazier, Bill Clinton, Pico Iyer, Xadie Smith, and Colm Tóibín André Aciman • Jonathan Alter • John Banville • Bill Clinton • Candice Bergen • Norman Foster • Amanda Foreman • Ian Frazier • Andrew Sean Greer • Amanda Harlech • Pico Iyer • Nicole Krauss • David Lida • Jan Morris • Zadie Smith • Ahdaf Soueif • Colm Tóibín • Simon Winchester In City Parks, eighteen writers reflect on various parks that hold a special significance for them, sharing personal moments they associate with them. Andrew Sean Greer eloquently paints a portrait of first love in the Presidio; André Aciman muses on the passage of time and the changing face of New York as viewed from the High Line; Nicole Krauss describes the real citizens of Prospect Park-dogs!; Simon Winchester takes readers along on his adventures in the Maidan; and Bill Clinton describes his affection for Dumbarton Oaks. Intensely personal, yet joined by overlapping themes of memory and the unstoppable passage of time, these essays create a warm portrait of parks around the world-from London to Brooklyn, Calcutta to Chicago, Paris to San Francisco-and offer a unique, thoughtful vision of their significance both to the individual and society itself. Beautifully illustrated with color and black-and-white images, City Parks is a literary anthology and collector's item that illuminates our personal histories and public experiences.