Brian Black, distinguished professor of history and environmental studies, has published Gettysburg Contested: 150 Years of Preserving America’s Cherished Landscape.

The biography of the Gettysburg Battlefield landscape includes the terrain’s significance during the 1863 fighting through its preservation and administration as a National Park. As Black argues, particularly since the Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg has been treated differently than any other landscape. Changes in the battlefield have reflected shifting ideas of preservation in the United States. Gettysburg Contested tells this story while offering insight into and surprises about this most cherished and familiar landscape.

While researching and writing the book, Black joined the National Park Service and led Penn State Altoona to adopt a portion of the battlefield that students work on each spring.

Learn more about the book at https://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Contested-Preserving-Cherished-Landscapes/dp/1938086481 and read an interview between Black and H-Net at https://networks.h-net.org/node/4113/discussions/3936786/author-interview-brian-black-gettysburg-contested