Prospect Park ─ Olmsted and Vaux's Brooklyn Masterpiece

Right in the heart of one of the nation's most densely populated urban areas sits an idyllic realm of graceful meadows, dense woods, placid lakes, and fresh air. Brooklyn's 585-acre Prospect Park offers a rural refuge to thousands of visitors every day. Created nearly 150 years ago by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert B. Vaux, designers of New York's Central Park, the duo considered Prospect Park their true masterpiece. Prospect Park, the first monograph on this exquisite public space, makes it easy to see why. Presenting a wealth of archival and newly commissioned photography and insightful text, David P. Colley and Elizabeth Keegin Colley trace the park's colorful history from its creation in the mid-nineteenth century to its decline in the 1970s and restoration in the 1980s, up to the park's new Lakeside Center facility, scheduled to open in 2013.

David P. Colley is the author of seven books, including Blood For Dignity (named to theNew York Times summer reading list and its New & Noteworthy column) and The Road To Victory, which received the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award. Colley has appeared on various History Channel programs. His writing has appeared in theNew York Times, American Heritage, Popular Mechanics, Historic Preservation, and many other publications. A former journalist, Colley is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in news reporting.

Elizabeth Keegin Colley is a photographer specializing in work for non profit organizations including universities, park systems and libraries. Her work has appeared in theNew York Times, New York magazine, Newsweek, Business Week and many other publications, and has taken her to Europe, South America and Africa.