OSU PROFESSOR AUTHORS BOOK ON LEGACY OF AMERICAN LANDSCAPES

   COLUMBUS -- An effort to "read" the landscape as a comprehensive autobiography of the United States would improve Americans' stewardship of the land, an Ohio State University professor asserts in a new book.

   John Warfield Simpson, author of Visions of Paradise: Glimpses of our Landscape's Legacy (1999, University of California Press), has produced a written record of America's landscape autobiography, examining the physical forces, people, policies and programs, and values that have most shaped the American landscape. Simpson is an associate professor of landscape architecture and natural resources at Ohio State.

   "The landscape is far more than scenery," Simpson notes, meaning it is more complex than the characteristics of its appearance and topography. And the book provides an exploration beyond the typical architectural analysis of scale, proportion and color. The landscape of which Simpson writes is one with a history of its own.

   The most meaningful landscapes, Simpson adds, also evoke emotions -- for example, the Ridgeville, Ohio, and Margate City, N.J., homes of his grandparents each affected Simpson's senses in specific ways that were an integral part of his boyhood memories.

   "This book ... is about landscape vision -- our ability to not just be in a place for which we have little interest or understanding, but to see the landscape, to know and be captivated by it," Simpson says. "Such knowledge enriches us in the same subtle and subconscious way as our knowing our lineage."

   In Visions of Paradise, Simpson describes the transformation of America from wilderness into an agrarian and suburban landscape, highlighting the role of influential people in that transformation and the policies and programs used to acquire, survey and dispose of public land.

   Simpson argues that over time, Americans have developed a sense of separation from and superiority over what they perceive as a limitless land supply of abundant resources -- and he says such a perception has blinded people to the environmental consequences of their actions. He further asserts that humans' connection to the landscape -- or lack thereof -- is a factor in contemporary environmental issues. Ideally, Simpson says, Americans should behave as residents who enjoy that deep connection to the land rather than as its temporary occupants.

   The book explores landscape history of Ohio, including central Ohio, to illustrate the story of settlement in America. Simpson considers the book appealing to readers of nonfiction, especially those with interests in nature and natural science; American history and Americana; the environment; landscape studies; and urbanization.

   Simpson will hold four public book-signings in central Ohio in the next month: 7 to 8 p.m. May 12 at Barnes & Noble at Kingsdale, 3280 Tremont Road; 7 to 8 p.m. May 19 at Little Professor in Worthington Square Mall, 155 Worthington Square; 7 to 8 p.m. May 25 at the Lennox Center Barnes & Noble, 1739 Olentangy River Road; and 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 3 at Borders, 6670 Sawmill Road.

Contact: John Warfield Simpson, (614) 292-8395