In the Country of the Kaw: A Personal Natural History of the American Plains

by James H. Locklear

328 pages, Hardcover

Published May 6, 2024

Reviews

[Thomas Isern · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive work in the venerable tradition of literary nonfiction on the Great Plains. I'll confess, I was won when Locklear declared the Smoky Hills the Heart of America. Strong on natural history, perhaps less so on human history, the overall effect is that of a botanist rampant on the country, another venerable tradition of the region. With eyes open and tongue in cheek, as when he invokes Jude, the patron saint of hopeless cases, as the patron saint of the much-afflicted Kaw, and more broadly, the Great Plains. The guy has been places and tracked the rock wrens to their crevices. There is critical affection in the work.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. I would describe it as a combination of ecology, agriculture, and geology of the Kaw Watershed but also as a sort of love letter to the region. Anyone with a natural sciences background will appreciate and already have some understanding of the information presented but there is still room for learning. I can imagine myself standing on some divide peering into the drainage basin and seeing forever and into the past or kayaking down the river which I've done many times. This is a "slow food" experience, not something to rush as you read but to dabble and peruse.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live in the country of the Kaw, grew up next to the Smoky Hill River, and I found this a fascinating look at all aspects of the countryside in the drainage basin of the Kaw, geology, fauna, flora, human history, and extremely readable.

[PottWab Regional Library]

A

[George Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new voice in the annals of the Kansas River, Locklear has written a riverine botany of the Kaw Valley, a poignant cultural and natural history of the longest true prairie river on earth.