Part One: Foundations -- The Day the Earth Screamed (1959 and 2.1 million years ago) -- Homeland (13,000 years ago to AD 1800) -- Part Two: Exploration and Discovery -- First Sight (1806-1814) -- Building the Myth (1822-1853) -- Standing on the Edge (1853-1860) -- Chasing Glory (1862-1869) -- Thirty-Seven Days (1870) -- Final Discovery (1871) -- The World's First National Park (1872-1877) -- Part Three: Yellowstone for What and for Whom? -- The Nez Perce War (1877-1879) -- Selling Yellowstone (1878-1883) -- Sending in the Cavalry (1884-1886) -- Showdown at Pelican Creek (1886-1894) -- A Park for the People? (1895-1904) -- Please Feed the Animals (1902-1918) -- The Ranger (1912-1919) -- High Noon in Jackson (1923-1950) -- Please Don't Feed the Animals (1961-1983) -- Th.e Impossible Fire (1988-1989) -- The Bad Wolf Returns (1994-1997) -- Part Four: Legacies -- Where the Buffalo Roam (2000-2016) -- Legacies (2016-2022)

"It has been called Wonderland, America's Serengeti, the crown jewel of the National Park System, and America's best idea. But how did this faraway landscape evolve into one of the most recognizable places in the world? As the birthplace of the national park system, Yellowstone witnessed the first-ever attempt to protect wildlife, to restore endangered species, and to develop a new industry centered on nature tourism. Yellowstone remains a national icon, one of the few entities capable of bridging ideological divides in the United States. Yet the park's history is also filled with episodes of conflict and exclusion, setting precedents for Native American land dispossession, land rights disputes, and prolonged tensions between commercialism and environmental conservation. Yellowstone's legacies are both celebratory and problematic. A Place Called Yellowstone tells the comprehensive story of Yellowstone as the story of the nation itself"--