NYTimes columnist Timothy Egan today writes about the “summer home” owned by all Americans, by which he means the vast tracts of public land and majestic national parks around the country. Lowell’s national park is about a place held in common by Americans, too, as well as an idea: the development of an industrialized, ethnically diverse, and more urban nation. Read the op-ed piece here, and consider buying the NYT if you appreciate the writing.

“Glacier National Park in Montana is home to the Going-to-the-Sun Road” (Web photo courtesy of NYT / Anne Sherwood for The New York Times)