Starred Review. The increasingly bi-coastal citizenry of the U.S. and Canada know less and less of the great central plains of the North American steppe, but this engrossing book from photographer and naturalist Forsberg, with ecological and geographical essays by O'Brien and Wishart, fills that need in overflowing excess. Forsberg's photography is spectacular, capturing the wide-open spaces of locales like the South Dakota Badlands and the fluid movement of its wildlife. As Wishart points out, the Great Plains are far from flat, comprised of rugged river valleys, outcrops of old volcanoes, glacial potholes and buffalo wallows, and formerly-vast marshlands. Univ. of Nebraska geography professor Wishart contributes historical and geographic overviews of three major ecological regions: the Tallgrass Prairie, the Northern Plains and the Southern Plains. The authors also look at the history of cross-continent exploration by the Spanish and the French, as well as 18th century fur traders who traversed the Rockies decades before Lewis and Clark. Author O'Brien (Buffalo for the Broken Heart) provides vivid, precise, and emotional essays that describe the ecological present and the hope for future developments in grasslands restoration. Wonderful maps of the entire Great Plains and individual regions add a great deal to this informative overview, making it a coffee table book worth studying.
“The Great Plains of America are not for sissies, but those who respond to their haunting beauty will not be driven off. The photographer Michael Forsberg and three of his writing friends show why. Forsberg has spent a long time looking at the Great Plains and now he has shared what he saw.”—Larry McMurtry
(Larry McMurtry )
“Great Plains strikes me as a signal event in the history of American publishing, a true event where the authors Ted Kooser, David Wishart, Dan O’Brien, and the simply fabulous photographer, Michael Forsberg, are a perfectly graceful mix. Having criss-crossed this area dozens of times it was wonderful to see my grand memories between covers.”—Jim Harrison
(Jim Harrison )
“The prairie is a minimalist landscape, anything but flashy. Forsberg’s discerning eye frames its sparse beauty in all its exquisite detail and lovely sweep. To spend time with this book is to understand why the Great Plains matter.”—Chris Johns, editor-in-chief, National Geographic Magazine
(Chris Johns )
“Expect to be surprised by this spectacular book. Its photographs creatively capture the subtle details and immense power residing in a great American landscape, while its prose provides the context for enjoyable reflection on humans and nature.”—Len Ackland,
Founding Director, Center for Environmental Journalism, University of Colorado
(Len Ackland )
“Focusing on a massive but neglected part of America, Mike Forsberg has created a masterpiece of stunning and lyrical photos and prose describing the legendary Great Plains. The white man brutally took over the interior grasslands from Native Americans and from charismatic predators such as wolves and bears, and slaughtered the vast herds of bison as well as other creatures. Great Plains tells this amazing story vividly with the passion and verve that the subject deserves. Bravo to Mike Forsberg!”—Chris Palmer, Director, Center for Environmental Filmmaking, American University
(Chris Palmer )
“Mike Forsberg’s images give us bright openings onto a world. . . . Here on the Great Plains both people and trees and everything else are in some way shaped by wind and weather. This book, too, has been shaped by where it comes from, and that’s just a part of its beauty.”—Ted Kooser, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, from the Foreword
(Ted Kooser )
“It takes a big boo (Booklist )
“This book cries out to be read and enjoyed. Don''t just thumb through to look at the pictures. Set the book down on a table and read the stories and the histories. It will amaze and engage you. You will view the Great Plains in new and enchanting ways.”—Lincoln Journal Star
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Lincoln Journal Star )
Best Books 2009
"The increasingly bi-coastal citizenry of the U.S. and Canada know less and less of the great central plains of the North American steppe, but this engrossing book from photographer and naturalist Forsberg, with ecological and geographical essays by O’Brien and Wishart, fills that need in overflowing excess. Forsberg’s photography is spectacular, capturing the wide-open spaces of locales like the South Dakota Badlands and the fluid movement of its wildlife. . . . Wonderful maps of the entire Great Plains and individual regions add a great deal to this informative overview, making it a coffee table book worth studying."—Publishers Weekly
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Publishers Weekly )
"One of Michael Forsberg’s most arresting photographs shows a female bobcat staring at the camera. The felines are relatively common in parts of the Great Plains, we’re told, but being shy of humans and well camouflaged, they’re rarely glimpsed. The bobcat is emblematic of the Great Plains—both are natural treasures that most Americans are barely aware of. We travel over or through the vast swath of Midwestern landscape as fast as we can, missing the beauty of seasonal flowers, secretive wildlife, and prairie wetlands. Thanks to Forsberg and his essayist collaborators, we now may linger and learn. The images range from panoramic cloudscapes over seas of grass to group portraits of bison, bighorn sheep, and sandhill cranes. The book’s subtitle calls the region “America’s Lingering Wild,” but Forsberg sounds a note of caution: ''only a fraction of the habitat from a century ago remains.''"—Natural History Magazine
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Natural History Magazine )
"There are 180 images in all, a stunning document that demonstrates the diversity of Great Plains wilderness. . . . Forsberg has taken masterpieces of nature and rendered them into art with his talent for composition, detail and light."
(Joe Duggan
Lincoln Journal Star )
"The most gorgeous coffee table book to come along in years."
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Huffington Post )
