The 20th Century: What's Worth Saving?

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Appalachian Trail
The vision of Massachusetts regional planner Benton MacKaye, the Appala-chian Trail was cleared and marked during the '20s and '30s by volunteer hiking clubs that lobbied hard to ensure that it would always remain open to the public. Stretching 2,159 miles along ridgetops from Georgia to Maine, the trail symbolizes America's this-land-is-your-land spirit and offers us all a chance to rediscover walking (even a few miles) as one of life's true satisfactions.

Baseball Radio Broadcasts
An aural art form was born on August 5, 1921, when the Pirates took the field against the Phillies in a game broadcast over Pittsburgh's new KDKA radio station. Tuning in to the calm cadences of an announcer ("Strike two on Sosa") punctuated by bursts of excitement ("A liner deep to the gap in left . way back . it's gone! A home run for Sammy Sosa!") remains one of summer's great pastimes.

Birth Control
The concept of birth control--that women (and men) have the right to choose how many children they raise--goes beyond oral contraceptives (introduced in 1960), condoms, diaphragms, and ancient herbs to a radical reframing of sex from straight-on reproduction to an expression of love and pleasure. The idea of sex education and freely available contraception was advanced by feminists like Margaret Sanger, who, in 1916, was arrested for opening America's first birth control clinic in Brooklyn. Even more radical was the idea introduced in the 1960s by members of the speculum-waving Jane Collective and advanced in the 1990s by the "do-me" feminists: that women are sexual beings--not just partners--who deserve to understand how their bodies work and what gives them pleasure.

Blood Banks
Four million U.S. patients a year are transfused with other people's blood, thanks to numerous scientific developments, including a blood-storage solution introduced in 1916. Dr. Oswald Robertson created blood depots during World War I, and a Leningrad hospital established the first blood bank in 1932. Five years later, Cook County Hospital in Chicago created the first U.S. version. We embraced the idea of sharing body products and parts when the government adopted a nationwide blood-collection program in 1940; organ donor registries continue the legacy.

Bungalows
These small one- or one-and-a-half-story houses, com-mon throughout the Midwest, West Coast, and South, fulfill many families' dreams of having a home all their own. Modeled on traditional dwell-ings in India's Bengal region but borrowing from English country cottages and Adirondack summer resorts, bungalows became the most popular housing style of the century's first three decades. Built for as little as $900, often with mail-order plans and materials, they are usually packed with arts-and-crafts-style amenities: handsome woodwork, leaded glass windows, built-in buffets, cozy fireplaces and nooks. A new generation of homeowners is rediscovering their charms--which include the fact that their modest, efficient size fosters compact neighborhoods within walking distance of shops, cafÈs, and other urban pleasures.

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