Book Birthdays celebrate one year of a book’s life in social media posts, reviews, and more. This month we’re saying Happy First Book Birthday to Back from the Collapse: American Prairie and the Restoration of Great Plains Wildlife (Bison Books, 2023) by Curtis H. Freese.
About the Book:
Back from the Collapse is a clarion call for restoring one of North America’s most underappreciated and overlooked ecosystems: the grasslands of the Great Plains. This region has been called America’s Serengeti in recognition of its historically extraordinary abundance of wildlife. Since Euro-American colonization, however, populations of at least twenty-four species of Great Plains wildlife have collapsed—from pallid sturgeon and burrowing owls to all major mammals, including bison and grizzly bears. In response to this incalculable loss, Curtis H. Freese and other conservationists founded American Prairie, a nonprofit organization with the mission of supporting the region’s native wildlife by establishing a 3.2-million-acre reserve on the plains of eastern Montana, one of the most intact and highest-priority areas for biodiversity conservation in the Great Plains.
In Back from the Collapse Freese explores the evolutionary history of the region’s ecosystem over millions of years, as it transitioned from subtropical forests to the edge of an ice sheet to today’s prairies. He details the eventual species collapse and American Prairie’s work to restore the habitat and wildlife, efforts described by National Geographic as “one of the most ambitious conservation projects in American history.”
A Word from the Author:
The first year of my book has been a fun and rewarding ride. I’ve enjoyed seeing the diversity of people it has reached, from scientists and wildland managers to students and the lay public interested in the Great Plains and wildlife conservation. Most importantly, it seems to be fulfilling my purpose for writing the book: helping people appreciate the wonders of the prairies and wildlife of the Great Plains and how urgently we need to work to save them. By telling the story of the collapse of twenty-four species of wildlife and the visionary and tireless efforts by the American Prairie and its collaborators to assemble a multi-million-acre grassland reserve to restore their populations, I hope we can build public enthusiasm for creating a network of big protected areas for the thousands of species of plants and animals that call the Great Plains home.
Although one (or at least I) begins reading reviews of one’s own book with a combination of hope and trepidation, I’ve been pleased with the reviews. Most, as to be expected, have been written by biologists and conservationists, and I much appreciate each one of them taking the time and effort required to share their written thoughts. A couple, however, pleasantly surprised me, such as a review in Newcity Lit, a website devoted to Chicago’s literary culture. And I never anticipated that an academic environmental historian from The Netherlands would review the book because of the historical perspective it offers.
The most enjoyable part of the first year, however, has been the chance to discuss the book directly with diverse audiences in diverse venues, from a Zoom call with Massachusetts high school students and a Midwest-based podcast “Read Beat (and Repeat . . .)” to an interview in the web-based journal the Yellowstonian and presentations in various locations. A special shout-out here to the Western National Parks Association for inviting me to give a public talk at their headquarters and for organizing a session to discuss Back from the Collapse with more than one hundred attendees at the wonderful Tucson Festival of Books.
Lastly, it continues to be a pleasure to work with the staff at UNP. I particularly appreciated UNP setting up a tent at the Tucson Festival of Books for other authors and me to sign books and meet readers. Especially enjoyable was the chance to talk with and get to know better the UNP staff in attendance, Rosemary Sekora (Marketing and Sales Manager) and Clark Whitehorn (Senior Acquisitions Editor). They and others at UNP are a wonderful team to work with. Looking forward to year two.
Reviews:
“Freese’s engaging book puts both the end-goal of American Prairie and what’s at stake in Greater Yellowstone in perspective. After you read it, you will never think of the prairie the same way again as you fly over it and have the delight of taking a long drive through it.”—Todd Wilkinson, Yellowstonian
“Freese (independent researcher) offers a well-written account of the natural history and conservation challenges of the northern prairie and sagebrush ecosystems of the Great Plains region of North America.”—A. L. Mayer, CHOICE
“Freese explains in detail the importance of how plants and animals interact with each other to sustain the natural environment.”—Abraham Hoffman, Roundup Magazine
“Freese’s work holds promise as an important resource for environmental historians working on grassland ecologies and conservation in this and other regions.”—Simone Schleper, H-Environment
“Ideally, the intellectually rigorous Back from the Collapse will become an integral part of the movement to create public support and enthusiasm for the restoration of wildlife to the Great Plains”—Natalia Nebel, Newcity Lit
UNP blog 