Customer Reviews

Sonoita Plain: Views from a Southwestern Grassland

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Established in 1968 by the Appleton family and now part of the National Audubon Society's sanctuary system, the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch is a tract of 8,000 acres on the Sonoita Plain of southeastern Arizona. This is land that has been left alone for the past 35 years. There has been no dam building, fire fighting, grazing, pest control, and no commercial or agricultural development of any kind. Co-authored by Carl and Jane Bock, Sonoita Plain: Views From A Southwestern Grassland showcases and highlights the ecosystems of the Sonoita Valley and the Research Ranch. Enhanced with the superb color photography of Stephen Strom, readers are informed with respect to the diverse life forms which range from towering century plants to tiny Botteri's Sparrow, the elegant Mexican pronghorn, and the humans of diverse eras and purposes that were associated with this region from ancient Clovis big-game hunters to border crossers seeking entrance into the U.S., to nature loving tourists come to see and experience what the Sonoita Valley has to offer. Highly recommended reading, especially for environmental activists and academicians, Sonoita Plain would well serve as a template or model for similar books on other natural environment restoration landscape projects elsewhere in the country.

From Joy Harjo - Mvskoke poet, musician, writer

"Any full portrait of a society -- and the Sonoita Plain is a society: of
lands, plants, skies, creatures (including humans) -- must be artful,
lyrical, factual, historical, mythical, insightful and inspiring.This
is a tremendous order -- and it's all here in this beautiful marriage of
text and photographs."

From John W. Donaldson - Rancher & recipient of the 2003 Western Heritage Award, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

"Carl and Jane Bock's book Sonoita Plain is a superb
comprehensive and informative piece of work. Anyone who is interested in the
environmental intricacies of Southern Arizona's grasslands would do well to
read this book and keep it close by for future reference."

I am a serious collector of photography. Having recently acquired a Stephen Strom photograph, the book was purchased to see more of his work. Amazon description says the book is 10.1 x 9.9 inches, which it is. Problem is that all of the images reproduced in the book are very tiny (think trading card size), surrounded by huge borders (or in the middle of text, which is okay). Pictures are beautiful, but why the editors decided to make them so small is a real mystery.