Abstract | Keywords | Export | Availability | Bookmark

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Big Sur embodies much of what has defined California since the mid-twentieth century. A remote, inaccessible, and undeveloped pastoral landscape until 1937, Big Sur quickly became a cultural symbol of California and the West, as well as a home to the ultrawealthy. This transformation was due in part to writers and artists such as Robinson Jeffers and Ansel Adams, who created an enduring mystique for this coastline. But Big Sur's prized coastline is also the product of the pioneering efforts of residents and Monterey County officials who forged a collaborative public/private preservation model for Big Sur that foreshadowed the shape of California coastal preservation in the twenty-first century. Big Sur's well-preserved vistas and high-end real estate situate this coastline between American ideals of development and the wild. It is a space that challenges the way most Americans think of nature, of people's relationship to nature, and of what in fact makes a place "wild." This book highlights today's intricate and ambiguous intersections of class, the environment, and economic development through the lens of an iconic California landscape.

Economic development --- Landscapes --- Big Sur (Calif.) --- Big Sur Coast National Scenic Area (Calif.) --- Environmental conditions --- 1930s. --- 20th century. --- 21st century. --- american history. --- ansel adams. --- artists. --- big sur. --- california coast. --- california. --- coastline. --- development. --- economic development. --- economy. --- environment. --- mid 20th century. --- monterey county. --- natural world. --- pacific coast. --- pastoral. --- private preservation. --- public preservation. --- real estate. --- robinson jeffers. --- urban development. --- western united states. --- western world. --- westward expansion. --- wilderness. --- writers.