Customer Reviews

The Last Prairie: A Sandhills Journal

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4 star:		(1)
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As often happens in Washington, DC, I got inside information. The author (my eighth grade history teacher) tipped me off about his book, before it was available. I got to read a "galley" I think it is called, and felt even more like an insider. It's exciting when a friend publishes a book, and when that friend telegraphs, with the sound in his voice, that this one might be something special. Steve knows. I read the hardback copy as soon as I got it. Growing up in Colorado gave me some appreciation of this majestic place to the East, which I now plan to visit for the first time. Stephen Jones has woven history, geography several sciences into a literary work of art, that can provide great inspiration, even to the uninitiated. His images are vivid, whether he is describing the hard-scrabble personalities that live there or the spirit-ghosts of Native Americans that have long since perished. His treatments of the landforms and myriad species of animals that dwell in the Nebraska Sandhills, are characteristically perfect. He has written a couple of other nature books, including one with his photos, called the Shortgrass Prairie.What many do not know about Steve is that he was diagnosed with a back problem before he undertook his arduous weeks long trips, the several hundred miles East. He would not want me to mention this, Steve is a low key guy. But his courage is, well, another story. I hope everyone who loves nature, and our vanishing wild places will read this book and be inspired and dream and go there.

Stephen Jones notes in the book that the Sand Hills of Nebraska make up one of the few "dark spots" on those wall posters featuring a satellite view of the United States at night. It is, truly, a wide open space, and he does the landscape great justice with his evident love for the land, its wildlife, its people and history.

For those who think Nebraska is simply home to a football team and endless acres of corn, "The Last Prairie" should open some eyes.

Jones is a prose poet. He makes the Sand Hills live and breathe right there on the page. An excellent, deeply-felt homage to one of America's little-known (thankfully?)great natural treasures.

The Last Prairie: A Sandhills Journal is an astonishing blend of nature, myth, and love of the land--richly textured with wry wit and something very close to wisdom. It's so deeply rooted in love and its own particular landscape that it transcends locality and becomes universal. In other words, it's a classic, akin to Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Writing, details, and a sensibility to treasure.

I grew up in Nebraska and return to the Sandhills whenever I can. Unlike nearly every other part of the US, this area is not crossed by an interstate highway, and the resulting isolation allows you to feel a little of the vast distances that used to be the West. To experience these rolling hills of grass, with not a tree in sight, especially in stormy weather, is to feel yourself totally absorbed in a great sweep of landscape - a living carpet of flora and mostly unseen fauna. Jones' book does much to recreate that experience in words. And he deepens the experience with his knowledge of geology and history, explaining how the Sandhills came into existence and in more recent times became peopled by the Plains Indians, cattle ranchers, and homesteaders.

Jones is especially knowledgeable about the birds that inhabit the Sandhills - noting those that are long-time residents and those that have been introduced over time with the changing ecology. It is amazing, as I have heard it myself, to hear a chorus of birds from every direction, all hidden by the grass and not a tree in sight. He also provides an accounting of the white-tail deer and pronghorn that range across this land, undeterred by barb wire fences. His stories of the Indians, the Pawnee, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Ponca are respectful and poignant. He also takes time to visit the grave of writer Mari Sandoz and to describe her life as the daughter of a Panhandle homesteader. This is a fine collection of essays for anyone who enjoys good nature writing. Readers may also enjoy Ian Frazier's "Great Plains."

When I read this for the first time, I said "I've read this before....". Then I realized it's very much in the style of William Least Heat Moon. Good for laying on a hill, watching the clouds, listening to the birds and animals.... and that's just what the book is!

The author gave an interesting cogent history of the Sandhills using personal experience as a guide. Beautiful vivid descriptions of this gorgeous landscape. Great read.

I loved this fine little book about the Nebraska Sandhills. I became interested in that area after reading Mari Sandoz' books some years back then reading some of them again this year. This book, "The Last Prairie", has added to that knowledge regarding Nebraska. I also traveled through that area some years back and liked it very much.

Since I am a Texan and lived in the Sandhills area of Texas for 25 years, I developed a love of the prairies and deserts with sandhills. Since we made the mistake of moving back to the High Plains of Texas I have missed that part of the state very much, and still enjoy reading about the special beauty of the sandhills and its flora and fauna in other parts of the country.

I recommend THE LAST PRAIRIE; A SANDHILLS JOURNAL very highly for it knowledge, its warmth, and the good research. Billie Freeman

I bought The Last Prairie when it first came out in hardcover, and loved it. I just pulled it out of my bookshelf to read again. Steve writes beautifully about an area that most people would never slow down enough to appreciate. Buy this book to savor slowly, then share it with others who love nature - it is a truly great book that you will keep to read again and again.

Fascinating for ecology, biology, history, and the sense of being there. Mr. Jones loves the prairie and shows us why. Best of all, you'll love it too. It's a rare author who can take us somewhere we've never been and give us the (almost) complete experience as this man does. He certainly showed me things I'd never see on my own.

Highly recommended

Mr. Jone's admiration, appreciation and concern for this very special ecosystem shines through this lovely book. In it, he intertwines Native American myth, Plains history and well researched scientific data into a cohesive and readable overview of the Sandhills of Nebraska.

Through his eyes, we visit and experience a landscape of beauty, solitute, history and rich wildlife. It is, in turns, thought provoking, humourous, enlightening, yet never preachy. Steve is most respectful of the current private owners of these lands, and integrates their ongoing stewardship into well reasoned suggestions to insure the long-term integrity of this fecund habitat for posterity.