Author Martin Discussing Olmsted at West Roxbury Reads Event at Library on Thursday

Biographer Justin Martin is set to discuss his newest book, “Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted,” on Thursday, April 25 as part of West Roxbury Reads. Martin, who previously wrote “Greenspan: The Man Behind the Money” and “Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon,” will give a talk on his book about the famed landscape architect – designer of, among many other amazing creations, Central Park and the Emerald Necklace. Martin recently spoke by phone from his home in Queens, New York.

Sponsored by the Friends of the West Roxbury Library and its community partners, the free event begins at 7 p.m. at the library and is open to the public.

Q: How have you picked your subjects so far?

Martin: There’s a common denominator: All three subjects are people who did a variety of things, and did them well. In the case of Alan Greenspan, he was a professional jazz musician, a member of Ayn Rand’s inner circle, and was a chief economic advisor to Gerald Ford and then Fed chairman. Ralph Nader is a lawyer by training, who wrote a bestselling book on auto safety, who figured out how to drive a legion of young people, known as Nader’s Raiders, to investigate various misdealings around Washington in the 1970s, and then became a kind of fly-in-the-ointment presidential candidate. Olmsted is the ultimate subject because he’s best known for his landscape architecture work, but he was no slouch as a journalist or as a farmer.

Q: What drew you to Olmsted?

Martin: A lot of people have a relationship with an Olmsted park or parks before they ever even know the name. When I came to New York, people said Central Park was where you go to relax, where you play Frisbee, where you take a girl on a date on a nice summer Sunday afternoon. So I was drawn to the place naturally, and got to know it better and better. Over time I began to get more curious about Central Park, and started to learn about Olmsted. Then a good friend became a Central Park tour guide and started using me as a guinea pig, taking me on tours. So I really got to know the park through that. She happened to comment that there wasn’t a really good biography of Olmsted, and I kind of tucked that away.

Q: How did you begin your research?

Martin: Because Olmsted was a journalist by training, and because the 19th century was such a time of letter writing, I’ve jokingly said that if Olmsted crossed the street, he’d make a diary notation about crossing the street, he’d tuck away the idea of crossing the street, and later write an article for The Nation or New York Times on crossing the street. Meanwhile, several of his friends would witness him crossing the street and also make diary entries or write letters about it. And Olmsted might write letters about crossing the street. So to my great pleasure, many events in his life are meticulously detailed in his own journalistic accounts, and in his letters to friends and family. There are seven volumes of annotated Olmsted letters that I was able to make use of. I also went to the archives at the Library of Congress and the Loeb Library at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, which hold the bulk of the rest of Olmsted’s correspondence.

Q: What’s the status of your Walt Whitman biography?

Martin: I’m hard at work on that right now, and it’s shaping up nicely. I’m finding that the more I know of Walt and his bohemian cohorts, the more fascinating I find the subject.

Q: Have you planned out what you’ll be doing in West Roxbury?

Martin: My publicist tells me that unless you are a really talented poet, or a writer of just beautiful fiction, people do not really want to see you bury your nose in your book and then read from it. They’d like to hear something about the content of the book, maybe read a select passage or two, and then take questions.

Justin Martin will take part in West Roxbury Reads on April 25. Sponsored by the friends of the West Roxbury Library and its community partners, the free event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.