Great Plains Studies, Center for

 

Date of this Version

Fall 2009

Citation

Published in Great Plains Research 19.2 (Fall 2009): 254

Comments

Copyright 2009 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Used by permission.

Abstract

The Land Where the Sky Begins is a small coffee-table book, elegantly illustrated with photographs and a few drawings of the critically endangered tallgrass prairie, and the more extensive neighboring aspen parkland. It covers, in surprising detail given its diminutive size, the evolution of grasslands and aspen parkland and describes, primarily by season, a number of typical plant and animal species that inhabit these systems.

The photographs are absolutely exquisite and far more than simply a backdrop to the lyrical text. They are really responsible for developing the images of the complex habitats described. The photos are beautifully composed and displayed, providing a captivating image of prairies and parklands, yet are not so taken with their own aesthetic as to obscure an accurate reflection of the nature of these ecosystems.

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