About

The Sacred Wonderland: Places, People, and History of Sublime America contemplates the cultural and natural landscapes of the United States through essays, commentary, and photographs.

Sacred:

that which is hallowed, sacrosanct, or inviolable. Though many people regard venerable objects, places, events, and people as inherently sacred, others view the sacred as a matter of interpretation, tradition, or convention.

Wonderland:

a place of amazement, admiration, or awe. The popularity of Lewis Carroll’s 1865 fantasy children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland introduced a new term for nineteenth-century Americans to describe the wondrous landscapes of western territories. It was quickly appropriated by railroads and other promotional interests to publicize places like Yellowstone National Park.

Sublime:

previously indicating an experience evoking both terror and astonishment, it became a cliché in nineteenth-century travel writing to describe superlative beauty. Recently the sublime has been regarded as the common connection between aesthetics and ethics.

America:

though frequently used to refer to the United States, America encompasses far more than a single nation. The Americas constitute virtually all of the western hemisphere, though this website concentrates more narrowly on the places, people, and history of the United States.