The famous landscape designer of Central Park (on which he collaborated with the architect Calvert Vaux), Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. is widely known for that accomplishment alone. Considering the impact of the park on city life in New York, and on other designs around the world, that would be accomplishment enough. But Olmsted other achievements are so overshadowed by the Central Park project, that he is still not as well known in environmental circles as he should be.

Many people don't know, or are confused by, the fact that there were two Frederick Law Olmsteds: father and son, F. L. O Sr., and F. L. O Jr. Both of them were landscape architects, and F. L. O Jr. followed directly in his father's footsteps, assuming "leadership of the country's largest and most prestigious landscape...