Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands [Hardcover]

John Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Though he’d lived in Iowa all his life, the allure of the prairie had somehow eluded John Price—until, after a catastrophic flood, a brief glimpse of native wildlife suddenly brought his surroundings home to him. Not Just Any Land is a memoir of Price’s rediscovery of his place in the American landscape and of his search for a new relationship to the life of the prairie—that once immense and beautiful wilderness of grass now so depleted and damaged as to test even the deepest faith.

Price’s journey toward a conscious commitment to place takes him to some of America’s largest remaining grasslands and brings him face to face with a troubling, but also hopeful, personal and environmental legacy. It also leads him through the region’s literature and into conversations with contemporary nature writers—Linda Hasselstrom, Dan O’Brien, William Least Heat-Moon, and Mary Swander—who have devoted themselves to living in, writing about, and restoring the grasslands. Among these authors Price observes how a commitment to the land can spring from diverse sources, for instance, the generational weight of a family ranch, the rites of wildlife preservation, the “deep maps” of ancestral memory, and the imperatives of a body inflicted with environmental illness. The resulting narrative is an innovative blend of memoir, nature writing, and literary criticism that bears witness to the essential bonds between spirit, art, and earth.

(20080805)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Native Iowan Price goes on a journey to capture a sense of the American prairie, but instead of taking a predictable geographic and botanical trip, he brings readers on a literary one. His method of defining the physical, emotional, and spiritual meaning of the grasslands is to analyze the work of authors currently writing about the unique "place" the prairie continues to be, and to look closely at the authors themselves. Each of the four--Linda Hasselstrom, Dan O'Brien, William Least Heat-Moon, and Mary Swander--writes specifically and distinctly about this landscape, and, as Price reveals, each writer's focus and purpose, as often as not, is in contradiction to their counterparts. Price is a gifted writer, but perhaps he's most talented as an interviewer. Despite his admiration, he is able to draw from his subjects essential information that defines them and their work, and to shine a critical light on their arguments and justifications. His journey leaves him transformed, as it may well transform the reader. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Price is a gifted writer. . . . His journey leaves him transformed as it may well transform the reader."—Booklist

(Booklist )

"In consecutive chapters about nature writers of the disappearing grasslands of the Great Plains, Price seamlessly combines several literary modes. . . . Price shows a talent for asking the right questions and for listening carefully and critically to his subjects."—Choice

(Choice )

“From the first captivating ‘calligraphic figure of a blue heron’ the reader will be bound with Price on his journey to connect with the land. . . . Price’s personal and literary journey is a deftly woven tapestry that connects all who have chosen to rest for a moment or two in the great sea of grass, and invites those who have not to experience that natural history of the grasslands.”—Jean Snodgress Wiedenheft, Wapsipinicon Almanac

(Jean Snodgress Wiedenheft Wapsipinicon Almanac )

"This ''memoir'' is grassland exploration and ecology literature search at its best. . . . Price''s insightful questions and sense of humor make the book''s subject highly accessible and memorable. Great Plains enthusiasts, as well as those wanting to understand this often-overlooked region. . . .''where surprises can live and grow,'' will delight in his extensive use of quotations from well-known writers."—Twyla Hansen, The NCB News

(Twyla Hansen The NCB News )

“Price cleverly invites his readers to join him, as he drives across the plains, visiting and interviewing those prairie conservationists whose books he has admired. Along the way, he integrates his own thinking, his reading of the prairie classics into the conversations that he has with his unseen readers. . . . The message of Not Just Any Land is idealistic, emotional, and strongly appealing, presented with good humor and a living perspective.”—Glenn M. Busset, The Manhattan Mercury

(Glenn M. Busset The Manhattan Mercury )

“The personal and literary dimensions of his journey through the American grasslands provide a thoughtful and very readable contribution to the ongoing discussion about regionalism and the ethical responsibilities of regional and environmental writers.”—Western American Literature

(Western American Literature )

“[Price’s] book offers valuable ecocriticism, vivid portraits of writers, and a compelling account of Price’s learning what it means for him to be ‘native to a place.’”—Walter Isle, Great Plains Quarterly

(Walter Isle Great Plains Quarterly )

“Not Just Any Land is a curious and enjoyable blend of diverse elements...partly a book of nature,...partly a literary survey,...[and] more memoir than scholarly treatise.”—Nebraska Life

(Nebraska Life )

"Ultimately, Price''s journey brings him home as a member of a community committed to prairie restoration. His book, with its vision of prairie diversity and faith in our potential for rebalancing the relationship between humanity and the natural world, stands as a testament to possibility."—Linda Helstern, North Dakota History

(Linda Helstern North Dakota History )

“Price is to be applauded for his work in making the case for a more immediate and personal criticism. . . . Ultimately, he fashions a compelling new way to encourage his readers to think about their relationships with place, region, and environmental responsibility, and he offers revealing sketches of writers and their ideas about what it means to live in the plains and prairie regions.”—Annals of Iowa

(Annals of Iowa )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 225 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803237073
• ISBN-13: 978-0803237070
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,717,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Where Surprises Can Live and Grow", July 19, 2004

By 

Twyla Hansen (Lincoln, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands (Hardcover)

(from the Aug. 2004 issue of NCB News of Nebraska Center for the Book http://www.unl.edu/NCB/)

In the first sentence of the acknowledgements page, John Price states: "This is a memoir." But what follows in NOT JUST ANY LAND is not simple autobiography; it is more a combination of scholarly research, self-searching, and the time-honored method of using others' words to clarify his own thoughts about the region formerly known as prairie, what we call the Great Plains. This "memoir" is grassland exploration and ecology literature search at its best: Price cites over 65 authors in his bibliography.

Price traveled to South Dakota, Kansas and Iowa to discover what remained of the prairie, and in the process interviewed four writers whose books had spoken to him of the region. These writers - their varied views, stories and struggles - are the subjects of the four main chapters of the book: "Reaching Yarak: The Peregrinations of Dan O'Brien," "Not Just Any Land: Linda Hasselstrom at Home," "Native Dreams: William Least-Heat Moon and Chase County, Kansas," and "A Healing Home: Mary Swander's Recovery Among the Iowa Amish." Price's insightful questions and sense of humor make the book's subject highly accessible and memorable.

Great Plains enthusiasts, as well as those wanting to understand this often-overlooked region ("...where surprises can live and grow"), will delight in his extensive use of quotations from well-known writers such as Wendell Berry, Gretel Ehrlich, Wes Jackson, William Kittredge, Wallace Stegner and Terry Tempest Williams, to name just a few. Woven through the narrative in often lyrical passages is Price's own exploration of place, community, family history and an understanding of "...what it is that the land demands of us in our daily lives: the nature of responsibility."

Price, who grew up in north central Iowa, has written an important book about region that will be studied, discussed and enjoyed for years to come. He is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet the plains states, minus stereotypes, January 21, 2006

By 

S. J. Snyder "De gustibus non disputandum" (Various, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands (Hardcover)

This is an excellent regional history - social, biological and natural history - of the American plains.

John Price's voice is expansive and insightful, including his family connections to various spots in the middle plains states. It also is a look at just what it will take to ground him, via nature, in life. And, as a relatively recent husband, it is also a reflection on where that grounding will take place, and the give-and-take that will be involved with his wife.

As to the specifics of life on the plains, while finding much to celebrate once stereotypes are penetrated, stereotypes still have a fair degree of truth, as do cold, hard facts.

Racism and sexism can still be found in the Midwest, for example. They may be fading away, but they haven't disappeared.

Unfortunately, what has disappeared is untainted land. Take these eye-opening stats from Price's home state of Iowa, for example.

Just one-half of 1 percent of the land is in a pre-European natural state, the worst of any of the 50 states. Even worse, it is so farm-and-ranch chemical laden that only 20 percent of it can EVER be restored to that pre-contact state, it is estimated, citing Richard Manning's "Grassland."

Can we change to something more sustainable? That question, too, gets pondered in this book, and from different angles.

===

Two caveats on matters historical and botanical.

First, the Quapaw and Caddo lived in the southern plains, not the northern ones; second, the prairie did not extend from Appalachia all the way to the Rockies -- Illinois was the one cis-Mississippian state with significant prairie.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Importance of a Name, March 20, 2008

By 

Patricia Kramer (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands (Paperback)

As I look forward to again attending The Prairie Festival at The Land again this year, I relished reading this book. It was fascinating reading the four authors' discussions of their work and their lives as they intersect their published writing.

This book also spoke to my interest in the Operation Migration project which is leading the way for the whooping cranes to again be wild and part of the land. John Price ponders and dissects the importance of place and the meaning of home and how we can follow Wendell Berry in really knowing about the place where we live.

"Though Heat-Moon's final quest for memory is a times awkward and self-conscious, it is for him essential. If America, if the human species, is to survive, then it must work actively to rejuvenate and reconstruct geographically specific, ancestral paradigms-deep maps-that move it toward a grand harmony of people and places."

Anyone who has seen the movie "Into the Wild" will resonate with Price's description of the effects of William Trogdon's decision to write "Prairy Erth" under the name William Least Heat-Moon.

"This rejuvenation begins with the individual journey, with the singular act of self-creation represented, perhaps, by William Trogdon's decision to rejuvenate the William Least Heat-Moon name. Whatever the consequences for the larger world, it was clear to me that the "Heat-Moon self" had led Trogdon to write one of the most important books on the prairie in American literature, a book that had had a profound impact on my own commitment to place. That fact alone suggested that what Heat-Moon had written about names was true, that they have he power to shape who we become in relation to the land around us. He writes:'Many tribal Americans believe that a person turns into his name, partakes of its nature in such a way that it is a mold the possessor comes to fill. When names lose their first meaning, as they have to most Americans of European descent, that mold becomes only a handle for others to move us around with.'"