26 THE (ATUSD Uo B7O°N SB. U0 2 Gene 
BOOK REVIEWS (continued) 
The Ring-Necked Pheasant, by John Madson. Olin Mathieson Chemical 
Company, East Alton, Illinois, 1962. 104 pages; free. 
One of a series of soft-cover books on wildlife issued by this corpo- 
ration, covering such areas as the life history of the pheasant, management, 
hunting, and its future. Photographs, black and white drawings, and an 
extensive bibliography grace the volume. 
Raymond Mostek, 615 Rochdale Circle, Lombard, III. 
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The State Parks — Their Meaning in American Life, by Freeman Tilden. 
Alfred A. Knopf Co., 501 Madison Ave., New York 22, New York, 1962. 
496 pages, $5.50. 
So much consideration and publicity has attended our national park 
system and the urgent need of protecting outstanding scenic values and 
shorelines, that the state park systems of the country sometimes appear 
to be neglected. Although few books have been written on the subject, 
the state parks of the nation have not been overlooked by the family 
camper and motoring tourist. These parks have experienced a great boom 
in the last few years. 
It is hard to realize that at the first meeting of the National Confer- 
ence on State Parks in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1921, there were 29 states 
which had no state parks at all! California (which now has 180 units) had 
but one, as did Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and three other states. 
Iowa had four state parks, Ohio had five, Wisconsin and Minnesota had 
six. One reason more land was not preserved in state park systems by 
1921, is that too many Americans felt our physical assets were inexhaustible. 
Today, one reason why more land is not set aside under state ownership 
(especially in the conservation desert known as Illinois), is that our 
materialistic society is too busy adding to its own wealth to help preserve 
some of this glorious land. 
Two generations ago Stephen Tyng Mather was urging the creation of 
a state park system so that a motorist could camp “each night on some 
kind of public land.” We’ve fallen far short of his admirable suggestion. 
Tribute is here paid to the Civilian Conservaton ‘Corps, that widely-re- 
spected agency of the Franklin D. Roosevelt era. Over 561 units of the 
Corps were assigned to work in national, state, and local parks. The great 
work of the C.C.C. is still recalled by many park visitors who even yet 
benefit by those efforts. 
Mr. Freeman makes a valuable contribution to a better understanding 
of our state park systems. Some of the nation’s most outstanding parks 
are given thorough treatment, usually free of burdensome statistics but 
with much valuable information concerning establishment and early 
history. 
Excellent black and white plates are generously provided, as well as 
a supplementary section containing brief descriptions of 111 additional 
state parks. Several pages are devoted to representative parks of each state. 
Mr. Freeman chose New Salem and Starved Rock Parks in Illinois. This 
useful volume fills a great void and deserves a place in any home or public 
library. 
Raymond Mostek, 615 Rochdale Circle, Lombard, Ill. 
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