From Library Journal
Campbell's background as an Arctic adventurer, anthropologist and photographer have led him to a variety of harsh environments. The author of several works on the anthropology of Alaskan natives and, most recently, one-room schoolhouses of the West (The Prairie Schoolhouse, Univ. of New Mexico, 1996), Campbell here documents the natural history, flora and fauna, and inhabitants of the expansive North American desert (the Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin), which encompasses some 500,000 square miles of the Western United States and Mexico. This collection of (chiefly) black-and-white large-format photographs with accompanying explanatory text works wonderfully on both aesthetic and educational levels to communicate the author's fascination with and understanding of the region. With a brief foreword by acquaintance Tony Hillerman and a useful bibliography; highly recommended.?Tim J. Markus, Evergreen State Coll. Lib., Olympia, Wash.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Few and Far Between is a book of words and photographs devoted to the North American Desert . . . John Martin Campbell's text and photographs show us how alive and beautiful it is, and how fortunate we are to live in or near its sometimes stark, sometimes lush, but always dramatic beauty. Campbell is a professional anthropologist, an amateur biological and earth scientist, and a former professor at the University of New Mexico. So the reader is in capable hands when Campbell writes . . . Campbell also gives strong written images of Native American knowledge and resourcefulness, as in his descriptive use of the California Fan Palm: its "palm fronds were made into sandals, burden baskets, hats, and roofing, and other parts of the tree were fashioned into house posts, beams, and cooking ware.". . . Campbell also is a master photographer, and though the text is both entertaining and informative, the black and white photographs are worthy of an Edward Weston or Ansel Adams. Using large-format cameras, Campbell has provided images so exquisitely composed and printed that the viewer can almost walk into the flat, rock-solid playa floors and moonlit yucca stands, or touch the strangely iridescent leaves of a desert holly. This is a must book for desert lovers and those who value fine nature photography. -- Dennis Dutton, The New Mexican, October 12, 1997
