The fortuitous relationship between America's national parks and its railroads receives a fresh take in this 5th edition of Alfred Runte's classic work on the subject. As in earlier editions, Runte offers his keen and eloquent analysis of what the parks mean to American life, and how the railroads often made it all possible. In this new volume, however, he moves beyond the generally more spectacular parks of the West and includes other sites east of the Mississippi. Thus we have not only the familiar stories of the Great Northern and its ties to Glacier National Park, or the Santa Fe and the Grand Canyon, or Union Pacific and Yellowstone, but also significant if less-celebrated examples in the East. Here Runte shows how the B&O exploited the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley, how the Pennsylvania made Horseshoe Curve into an attraction, and the Lackawanna's efforts to bring people to the Delaware Water Gap. As in earlier editions, the glory of the book is the illustrations, a mix of historical photos and promotional posters and advertisements. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the railroads were, in effect, sponsors of great commercial art, and much of it is showcased here: Northern Pacific's depictions of the mountainous Pacific Northwest, UP's posters for Zion and Bryce Canyon, the Milwaukee Road's "Madonna of the Rails," and Santa Fe's influential art of the Southwest. The railroads were an essential part of what filmmaker Ken Burns called "America's Best Idea," and Runte has no peer in telling that story.