This book explores many of the largest and best-known National Parks and National Monuments in the United States. It also includes a few state parks and other spectacular places in the US as well as national parks in Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

The book is based on nearly 75 years' experience traveling to these places by four generations of the Reed family. The primary co-author first visited a national park in 1954 and has continued traveling to these places ever since. The book includes more than 600 photographs, some as old as 75 years old, of these spectacular places.

The book was a family project. Most of the photos were taken by the author or his father, but some photos (including shots of Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and the spectacular Grand Canyon scene) were taken by his grandmother, others were taken by his mother, the photos of Alaska parks (as well as a few others in the collection) were taken by his sister or brother in law, and some photos of national parks in Europe and Australia were taken by his children.