Sea of Grass

Praise

“Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty chronicle an environmental crisis most Americans are unaware of: the ongoing destruction of the country’s great prairies. Sea of Grass is eloquent both on the complexity of this amazing ecosystem and its fragility.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Under a White Sky

“As radiant as its subject, Sea of Grass reclaims the North American prairie—too long dismissed as a wasteland—as a true wonderland of ecological brilliance and beauty, reminding us that like all of nonhuman nature, the prairie is wiser and more resourceful than the species determined to conquer it.”—Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Gulf

“As epic in its scope as the prairie itself, Sea of Grass deftly chronicles the tragic destruction of North America’s grandest ecosystem and the inspiring movement to restore it. Hage and Marcotty balance heartbreak and hope in this wise, impassioned ode to the prairie and its inhabitants, human and wild alike. Like an expanse of tallgrass, this book bursts with surprising life—you’ll meet maverick farmers, rogue environmentalists, and ornery bison, all engaged in the vital project of saving our most vital biome from the vast forces that imperil it.”—Ben Goldfarb, author of Crossings and Eager

“One of our human frailties is a short memory; Sea of Grass is an antidote, freshening our cultural recollection with abundance, beauty, and ecology of what was. This captivating book offers tears of repentance wiped away with renewed hope for the future.”—Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farm and editor of The Stockman GrassFarmer

“Now this is a book well worth the read. It describes—in loving, living prose—one of the world’s greatest and most important landscapes. And it does so while there’s still time to save some serious part of it, and in the process to save much else. . . . Balanced, nuanced—but overpowering.”—Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature

“[A] scintillating study . . . Hage and Marcotty excel at elucidating the complex workings of prairie ecosystems, and they provide cogent explanations of how to undo the damage of industrial agriculture by, for instance, preserving next to crop fields uncultivated ‘buffer strips’ that would absorb fertilizer and pesticide runoff. This troubling wake-up call will galvanize readers.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A sweeping history of the American prairie . . . a welcome addition to the literature of America’s grasslands, which need all the champions they can get.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review