David and Kay Scott are still traveling the country to stay in as many lodges in the National Park System as possible. The latest edition of their book -- number six if you're counting -- is ready to take its place in your home library.

Mission 66, the program that rehabilitated and restored national parks in time for the National Park Service's 50th Anniversary back in 1966, often is cited today as an inspiration for the Centennial Challenge, but it is a program that sometimes is shrouded in mystery.

Thank goodness there still are independents taking pen to paper to produce guides to national parks. Forget the cookie-cutter approach, toss aside worries about over-emphasizing one area, never mind about catering to one demographic. Janet Chapple's Yellowstone Treasures is a must for Yellowstone National Park visitors.

After deciding to write a memorable book about Wind Cave National Park, Peggy Sanders selected old photos with great care and then added skillfully crafted captions and explanations. The result is a photo-dense book that’s fun to read and hard to put down. Thank you, Peggy.

What is the role of a national park? How should we value what lies within the boundaries of a national park? Those are simple and yet provocative questions these days. Some answers -- perhaps the answer -- can be found in a new book that chronicles Yellowstone National Park's bittersweet history with the snowmobile.

The problem with the "10 best" of anything books, articles or wish-lists is that you're bound to fail from the get-go. That's one reason why the Traveler has yet to release its Top 10 National Parks list. As soon as you begin listing the "ten best" of anything, you're trolling for a debate.

The 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth began with a bang. Given the historic ascension and rise of the first African American to the presidency of the United States, Lincoln’s relevancy is perhaps more essential today than ever before.

Usually when I visualize Great Smoky Mountains National Park, what comes to mind are heavily forested mountains cut by leaping creeks, roamed by black bears, and packed with salamanders. But if you talk to Donald Linzey, he'll open your eyes to a lot more of the park's natural history.

Little bigger than a 3-by-5 index card and less than 100 pages, this handy book slides smoothly and comfortably into your pocket or day pack and offers the first- and even second-timer some handy guidance to navigating Acadia National Park.

I always liked the acronym, SCRU, the best, I thought, in the federal government. It stood for the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, a collection of National Park Service world-class divers stationed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who also happened to be professional archaeologists, anthropologists, and illustrators.