Written by renown historian Bernard DeVoto, Across the Wide Missouri won the Pulitzer Prize (history) in 1948. This hefty classic centers around the fur trade from 1832 to 1838 and delves deep in to the lives of some of the most famous mountain men and their interactions with Native Americans. DeVoto’s writing style is detailed
Category: Book Reviews
Review of PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon
When people envision the “west” a lot of images come to mind: mountains, cowboys, large landscapes. Tallgrass prairies are not often on that list. Mention Kansas and people glaze over or remember it as a place to “drive through” or “fly over”. So, for William Least Heat-Moon to construct a 600+ page book centered on
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Coyote America
There is no denying, I am a dog person. I have always been drawn to dogs and have felt a deep, perhaps you could call it spiritual, connection towards canines. Thus, it is easy to feel that same connection towards wolves and coyotes. But it goes beyond the human-dog relationship. Undomesticated “dogs” play a critical
Nature’s Allies – Eight Conservationists Who Changed the World
There are many famous names in the history of conservation. But there are also some not-so-famous ones, especially outside the United States. Nature’s Allies: Eight Conservationists Who Changed Our World highlights eight major players in conservation. Some are exceptionally well-known: Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, John Muir. Others you may never heard of before. John Muir
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Can We Protect Half the Earth and Stave Off the Sixth Extinction?
E.O. Wilson’s premise in Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life is as straightforward as it is daunting: we must preserve half of the Earth in order to stop a path towards complete, irreversible failure and the “sixth extinction”. According to Wilson we have, or will shortly, entered the Anthropocene period; the Epoch of Man. This
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How Much Nature Do We Need? Review of The Nature Fix
How much nature do we need? Nature is all around us in varying degrees. The amount or value of the nature around us is largely subjective. But with near certainty we can understand what valuable nature is or isn’t. Universally, more natural surroundings is preferable to less. Also nearly universal is the idea that having
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The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt and the Triumph of American Natural History
Roosevelt’s life as a naturalist began like many naturalists: with a carcass. Specifically, a seal carcass he discovered in a grocery on Broadway in New York. He was 8 years old. Darrin Lunde’s The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt and the Triumph of American Natural History covers our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt, from the lens of an
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Long Hops: Making Sense of Bird Migration
The concept of bird migration is far from new to even the most casual backyard birder. Many birds come and go as the seasons change. On the surface, migration, or why birds would bother to migrate, is quite obvious. Food sources change as the time of year changes. The decision to stay put or travel
