More than forty percent of our country was once open prairie, grassland that extended from Missouri to Montana. Taking a critical look at this little-understood biome, award-winning journalist Richard Manning urges the reclamation of this land, showing how the grass is not only our last connection to the natural world, but also a vital link to our own prehistoric roots, our history, and our culture. Framing his book with the story of the remarkable elk, whose mysterious wanderings seem to reclaim his ancestral plains, Manning traces the expansion of America into what was then viewed as the American desert and considers our attempts over the last two hundred years to control unpredictable land through plowing, grazing, and landscaping. He introduces botanists and biologists who are restoring native grasses, literally follows the first herd of buffalo restored to the wild prairie, and even visits Ted Turner's progressive--and controversial--Montana ranch. In an exploration of the grasslands that is both sweeping and intimate, Manning shows us how we can successfully inhabit this and all landscapes.

本書は、単なる自然記録を超えた、アメリカの原風景への壮大な挽歌であり再生の文学です。マニングは大草原を、私達の記憶が刻まれた「命の源流」として描き出します。土地を支配しようとした人間の歴史を鋭く告発しつつ、草に宿る野生の力を詩的な筆致で浮かび上がらせる手法は見事です。 エルクの帰還を通し語られるのは、自然とどう共生すべきかという根源的な問いです。学術的知見と親密な視点が交差する本作は、荒野を「豊穣」の象徴へと塗り替えます。大地が持つ悠久の時間と生命の息吹を再発見せずにはいられません。魂を揺さぶる、環境文学の最高傑作です。