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Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie
A vivid portrait of the American prairie, which rivals the rainforest in its biological diversity and, with little notice, is disappearing even faster
“This book 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.”—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
The North American prairie is an ecological marvel, a lush carpet of grass that stretches to the horizon, and home to some of the nation’s most iconic creatures—bison, elk, wolves, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and bald eagles. Plants, microbes, and animals together made the grasslands one of the richest ecosystems on Earth and a massive carbon sink, but the constant expansion of agriculture threatens what remains.
When European settlers encountered the prairie nearly two hundred years ago, rather than a natural wonder they saw an alien and forbidding place. But with the steel plow, artificial drainage, and fertilizers, they converted the prairie into some of the world’s most productive farmland—a transformation unprecedented in human history. American farmers fed the industrial revolution and made North America a global breadbasket, but at a terrible the forced dislocation of Indigenous peoples, pollution of great rivers, and catastrophic loss of wildlife. Today, industrial agriculture continues its assault on the prairie, plowing up one million acres of grassland a year. Farmers can protect this extraordinary landscape, but trying new ideas can mean ruin in a business with razor-thin margins, and will require help from Washington, D.C., and from consumers.
Veteran journalists and midwesterners Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty reveal humanity’s relationship with this incredible land, offering a deep, compassionate analysis of the difficult decisions as well as opportunities facing agricultural and Indigenous communities. Sea of Grass is a vivid portrait of a miraculous ecosystem that makes clear why the future of this region is of essential concern far beyond the heartland.
“This book 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.”—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
The North American prairie is an ecological marvel, a lush carpet of grass that stretches to the horizon, and home to some of the nation’s most iconic creatures—bison, elk, wolves, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and bald eagles. Plants, microbes, and animals together made the grasslands one of the richest ecosystems on Earth and a massive carbon sink, but the constant expansion of agriculture threatens what remains.
When European settlers encountered the prairie nearly two hundred years ago, rather than a natural wonder they saw an alien and forbidding place. But with the steel plow, artificial drainage, and fertilizers, they converted the prairie into some of the world’s most productive farmland—a transformation unprecedented in human history. American farmers fed the industrial revolution and made North America a global breadbasket, but at a terrible the forced dislocation of Indigenous peoples, pollution of great rivers, and catastrophic loss of wildlife. Today, industrial agriculture continues its assault on the prairie, plowing up one million acres of grassland a year. Farmers can protect this extraordinary landscape, but trying new ideas can mean ruin in a business with razor-thin margins, and will require help from Washington, D.C., and from consumers.
Veteran journalists and midwesterners Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty reveal humanity’s relationship with this incredible land, offering a deep, compassionate analysis of the difficult decisions as well as opportunities facing agricultural and Indigenous communities. Sea of Grass is a vivid portrait of a miraculous ecosystem that makes clear why the future of this region is of essential concern far beyond the heartland.
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First published January 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
June 18, 2025
Sea of Grass is an informative nonfiction text about the environmental history and greater conservation efforts necessary on the American prairie. I personally was fascinated with the history sections of the book both on the natural environment and human’s impact on the prairie. The authors also included landmark research studies to demonstrate human impact and its consequences overtime that impact both local communities and contribute to global climate change.
A large section of the book explores public policy regarding the protection of the prairie and how new innovative farming techniques can restore parts of the prairie, while still being profitable for farmers and local communities. These practices seem like no brainers solutions to me, but receive considerable pushback from the local communities who could benefit from them. I thought the authors’ use of personal testimony from individual farmers and political figures show the obstacles that environmental conscious farmers and conservation groups face when trying to restore the natural environment. Overall it’s a fascinating book for anyone interested in environmental history and restoration efforts.
A large section of the book explores public policy regarding the protection of the prairie and how new innovative farming techniques can restore parts of the prairie, while still being profitable for farmers and local communities. These practices seem like no brainers solutions to me, but receive considerable pushback from the local communities who could benefit from them. I thought the authors’ use of personal testimony from individual farmers and political figures show the obstacles that environmental conscious farmers and conservation groups face when trying to restore the natural environment. Overall it’s a fascinating book for anyone interested in environmental history and restoration efforts.
February 2, 2026
This book provides a description and history of the North American Prairie including the natural science, politics, and farming procedures that played roles in "the conquest, ruin, and redemption" of the land. The book begins with a review of the geologic history of the prairie bringing the story up to development of the tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass prairie zones that existed until the nineteenth century when it was plowed up and largely converted into farm land. THIS LINK is to a map of the American prairie showing these three zones. Only one percent of the tallgrass prairie remains in its original state while about forty to fifty percent of the shortgrass prairie remains, much of it being used as grazing land for cattle ranches.
The role of the steel plow and the use of under drains for dewatering of soils in the conversion of native prairie into agricultural crop land are described by the book. The development of artificial fertilizers is covered as well as its unintended impact on sea life.
There's a chapter telling the story of how the City of Des Moines tried to sue the agricultural drainage districts located upstream on the Raccoon River for contaminating their source of drinking water with excessive concentrations of nitrogen. The suit failed for technical reasons, but it is clear that much of the cost of the treatment of drinking water for Des Moines, Iowa is caused by upstream farmers and it seems that any sense of justice would require that they pay for what they have caused. The 1972 Clean Water Act specifically exempts farmers from laws controlling the quality of water discharged into streams and rivers. A recent Supreme Court ruling has narrowed the definition of streams and rivers making discharge of contaminated water even more possible.
The book says that native prairies continue to be plowed up and converted into farm land growing corn and soybeans in the mixed and short grass areas. This is made possible by new seed varieties and low-till and no-till farming methods. Conversion from grassland to farm land effectively doubles its value to the land owner. However, the book maintains that this conversion is detrimental to the welfare of the earth.
The role of the steel plow and the use of under drains for dewatering of soils in the conversion of native prairie into agricultural crop land are described by the book. The development of artificial fertilizers is covered as well as its unintended impact on sea life.
Studies of sediment core samples on the bottom of the Gulf showed that nitrogen levels began to rise in the 1950s, just as commercial nitrogen fertilizer came on the market. As the use of both fertilizer and agricultural tile drainage rose, so did the concentration of nitrogen in the MississippiThe book provides a chapter telling the history of the dust bowl years in the 1930s. My parents lived through this era and the farm I grew up on during the 1950s was blessed with a grove and shelterbelts planted in the 30s in an effort to control erosion.
... planted nearly forty million saplings on the Great Plains to create windbreaks that Roosevelt called prairie shelterbelts. Nearly one million acres were taken out of crop production and replanted with drought-hardy grasses.The book provides a thorough description of the variety and density of life found in the typical soil of native prairie.
A plot of healthy soil the size of a kitchen stovetop can contain as many as 1,000 earthworms, 60,000 mites, 100,000 arthropods, millions of the minuscule worms called nematodes, fully one pound of bacteria, and more than 100 miles of fungal filaments. David Montgomery notes that just a tablespoon of soil contains more living things than the human population on Earth. And when all those living things die-plant roots, worms, insects, fungal threads-they add more carbon to the soil. Repeat that process thousands of times over hundreds of years, and you understand why prairies have some of the richest soil on the planet. The famed black soil of the Midwest is black for a reason—it's loaded with carbon.There's also a discussion of the use of pesticides, the role of pollinators, and alternative farming procedures that have been developed to protect soils from erosion and depletion.
There's a chapter telling the story of how the City of Des Moines tried to sue the agricultural drainage districts located upstream on the Raccoon River for contaminating their source of drinking water with excessive concentrations of nitrogen. The suit failed for technical reasons, but it is clear that much of the cost of the treatment of drinking water for Des Moines, Iowa is caused by upstream farmers and it seems that any sense of justice would require that they pay for what they have caused. The 1972 Clean Water Act specifically exempts farmers from laws controlling the quality of water discharged into streams and rivers. A recent Supreme Court ruling has narrowed the definition of streams and rivers making discharge of contaminated water even more possible.
The book says that native prairies continue to be plowed up and converted into farm land growing corn and soybeans in the mixed and short grass areas. This is made possible by new seed varieties and low-till and no-till farming methods. Conversion from grassland to farm land effectively doubles its value to the land owner. However, the book maintains that this conversion is detrimental to the welfare of the earth.
Worse, breaking these grasslands is not a one-time loss. It not only releases their stores of carbon, it removes them as a carbon sink that could capture future greenhouse gas emissions. Grass preserves 60 to 70 percent of its carbon below ground, permanently. And once plowed, prairies require a century or more to recover the original plant diversity and productivity that allow them to sequester so much carbon ... .There's a chapter in the book describing the development of Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge in the Red River Valley located between northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. There's also a discussion of improved farming and ranching methods, and a chapter describing the reintroduction of bison to parts of the short grass prairies.
October 19, 2025
This book is somewhere between 2.75 to 4.25 stars, depending on how much knowledge one brings to the issue already, per a guide I use more and more in my own reading of nonfiction books.
For me, there were two main things I learned.
One was the use of tile drains in the boggy Midwest. Via Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert," I have long been familiar with them in irrigated areas of the desert Southwest, to reduce salinity in the soil water level beneath roots and carry off the salts in the West's alkaline water. The broad principles are the same.
The second was the development of new corn and soybean seed types for the northern high plains. (I have a friend whose wife, also an acquaintance, was born in Highmore, South Dakota, featured in the book.)
That said, the authors appear to pull some punches, and to miss some things.
One pulled punch? Bison in Yellowstone National Park almost certainly do NOT transmit brucellosis to cattle. That said, elk on the adjacent National Elk Range, fed hay in winter as if they were cattle, almost certainly DO, but ranchers and hunters in Montana and Wyoming don't like to talk about that.
Second and related, and also tied to a 2-star reviewer here? The degree of animus from ranchers toward bison, though mentioned, seemed downplayed.
Third, the degree to which it's not an either or of conventional big ag or people in West Virginia or New Delhi starving is underplayed.
Fourth, the degree to which Big Ag lobbyists control discussion on any possible changes to farm legislation, from expanding the conservation reserve program through expanding the types of crops eligible for insurance to sliding scales on insurance coverage.
There's lesser pulled punches here and there in the book.
One missed thing? The North American prairies don't magically stop at the 49th parallel. Especially since the authors wrote for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and they write in part about the Red River Valley, more on what's new in Canadian farming and ranching would have been good.
Another? The Noble Research Institute, a leader in regenerative ranching ideas, is nowhere mentioned.
A third, partially but not totally beyond this book? Just how "hollowed out" much of the plains is, not only from larger farm and ranch size, but consolidation in the agribusiness world, especially in things like meatpacking.
So, if you don't know what a local soil conservation district is, you might learn a fair amount. If you do? Not so much.
Speaking of, the authors don't discuss the thousands of SCD check dams across the country, backing up large ponds or small lakes, many of them constructed during the Depression and at the end of their estimated or expected life spans.
I thought about giving this a starless review but ended at 3 stars.
For me, there were two main things I learned.
One was the use of tile drains in the boggy Midwest. Via Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert," I have long been familiar with them in irrigated areas of the desert Southwest, to reduce salinity in the soil water level beneath roots and carry off the salts in the West's alkaline water. The broad principles are the same.
The second was the development of new corn and soybean seed types for the northern high plains. (I have a friend whose wife, also an acquaintance, was born in Highmore, South Dakota, featured in the book.)
That said, the authors appear to pull some punches, and to miss some things.
One pulled punch? Bison in Yellowstone National Park almost certainly do NOT transmit brucellosis to cattle. That said, elk on the adjacent National Elk Range, fed hay in winter as if they were cattle, almost certainly DO, but ranchers and hunters in Montana and Wyoming don't like to talk about that.
Second and related, and also tied to a 2-star reviewer here? The degree of animus from ranchers toward bison, though mentioned, seemed downplayed.
Third, the degree to which it's not an either or of conventional big ag or people in West Virginia or New Delhi starving is underplayed.
Fourth, the degree to which Big Ag lobbyists control discussion on any possible changes to farm legislation, from expanding the conservation reserve program through expanding the types of crops eligible for insurance to sliding scales on insurance coverage.
There's lesser pulled punches here and there in the book.
One missed thing? The North American prairies don't magically stop at the 49th parallel. Especially since the authors wrote for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and they write in part about the Red River Valley, more on what's new in Canadian farming and ranching would have been good.
Another? The Noble Research Institute, a leader in regenerative ranching ideas, is nowhere mentioned.
A third, partially but not totally beyond this book? Just how "hollowed out" much of the plains is, not only from larger farm and ranch size, but consolidation in the agribusiness world, especially in things like meatpacking.
So, if you don't know what a local soil conservation district is, you might learn a fair amount. If you do? Not so much.
Speaking of, the authors don't discuss the thousands of SCD check dams across the country, backing up large ponds or small lakes, many of them constructed during the Depression and at the end of their estimated or expected life spans.
I thought about giving this a starless review but ended at 3 stars.
April 22, 2025
It’s only April and I already know my top non-fiction pick of the year: “Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie”. It’s that good.
Before I cracked the book’s spine I privately thought “How much am I really going to learn?” but I was mesmerized from page one. I quickly learned that I couldn’t keep it on my bedside table because I’d never get any sleep if I did.
The book starts off by orienting the reader to the prairie itself – it’s magic, its ecology, and its role in America’s nineteenth century transformation – then brings us to the predicament those advancements, if you’ll pardon the word, have placed us in today. Habitat and biodiversity loss, for sure, but also dead zones, pollinator collapse, flooding, drought, climate change, to say nothing of the social havoc it’s wrought for both farming and indigenous communities. Fortunately, the book closes with glimmers of hope – creative, passionate efforts that, if amplified, will lead us out of the morass.
Along with the narrative arc and overall theme, I got a kick out of the factoids dropped into “Sea” like glimmering coral atolls. Where else would I learn the mystery behind growing seedless watermelons, why the Red River flows north, or how long it takes for water to get from one end of the Mississippi to the other?
Hage and Marcotty hit it out of the park with this one. “Sea of Grass” is a game changer – for conservationists, farmers and ranchers, but also for history buffs, foodies, policy makers, and for anyone who has even a mote of curiosity about the world and their role in it.
Before I cracked the book’s spine I privately thought “How much am I really going to learn?” but I was mesmerized from page one. I quickly learned that I couldn’t keep it on my bedside table because I’d never get any sleep if I did.
The book starts off by orienting the reader to the prairie itself – it’s magic, its ecology, and its role in America’s nineteenth century transformation – then brings us to the predicament those advancements, if you’ll pardon the word, have placed us in today. Habitat and biodiversity loss, for sure, but also dead zones, pollinator collapse, flooding, drought, climate change, to say nothing of the social havoc it’s wrought for both farming and indigenous communities. Fortunately, the book closes with glimmers of hope – creative, passionate efforts that, if amplified, will lead us out of the morass.
Along with the narrative arc and overall theme, I got a kick out of the factoids dropped into “Sea” like glimmering coral atolls. Where else would I learn the mystery behind growing seedless watermelons, why the Red River flows north, or how long it takes for water to get from one end of the Mississippi to the other?
Hage and Marcotty hit it out of the park with this one. “Sea of Grass” is a game changer – for conservationists, farmers and ranchers, but also for history buffs, foodies, policy makers, and for anyone who has even a mote of curiosity about the world and their role in it.
January 26, 2026
I read the liner notes and saw that the authors were Strib journalists, which kind of painted my whole experience with the book. I felt like each chapter was strung together from stand-alone articles and lo, the acknowledgements admitted that the book was, in fact, born from a series of Strib articles.
Absolutely no disrespect to newspaper journalists, but their writing on this topic was a mile wide and an inch thick. The book flip flops between individual interviews and recent scientific research and it’s hard to come away with what the point of each chapter was.
There are also just clear errors that bugged me. There is no such thing as a black-capped night heron, nor do they associate with grasslands.
The most egregious claim was that “historians disagree on if the bison was deliberately exterminated” when that is demonstratively false. Bison were exterminated by the U.S. army in efforts to further subjugate the American Indian tribes, and I’ve seen no disagreement on that fact (see: SDSU’s dedicated page to bison genocide).
Beyond those items that soured the book for me, I did appreciate the POV from farmers, state and county legislature, and what the future of grassland restoration could look like in North America. The book just needed a few fact-checkers and better editors.
I should mention that my background on native grasses and restoration is deep: graduate classes and university research on restoration methods, nitrate movement through different types of Ag BMPs, and a personal interest in native plant communities. I mention this not to come off as pretentious, but to validate some of my criticisms. I think the book is geared toward an audience that has little to no prior knowledge of the history of grasslands in America and their inherent value as a biome.
Absolutely no disrespect to newspaper journalists, but their writing on this topic was a mile wide and an inch thick. The book flip flops between individual interviews and recent scientific research and it’s hard to come away with what the point of each chapter was.
There are also just clear errors that bugged me. There is no such thing as a black-capped night heron, nor do they associate with grasslands.
The most egregious claim was that “historians disagree on if the bison was deliberately exterminated” when that is demonstratively false. Bison were exterminated by the U.S. army in efforts to further subjugate the American Indian tribes, and I’ve seen no disagreement on that fact (see: SDSU’s dedicated page to bison genocide).
Beyond those items that soured the book for me, I did appreciate the POV from farmers, state and county legislature, and what the future of grassland restoration could look like in North America. The book just needed a few fact-checkers and better editors.
I should mention that my background on native grasses and restoration is deep: graduate classes and university research on restoration methods, nitrate movement through different types of Ag BMPs, and a personal interest in native plant communities. I mention this not to come off as pretentious, but to validate some of my criticisms. I think the book is geared toward an audience that has little to no prior knowledge of the history of grasslands in America and their inherent value as a biome.
August 9, 2025
You might not realize it, but the American prairie isn't just a vast expanse of nothing, it's an important and endangered ecosystem.
The gist of the book is that (1.) the prairie is both a biological hotspot and carbon sink on par with the tropical rainforest but (2.) due to being seen as "a vast expanse of nothing" it doesn't have the romance or legal protection of other landscapes so (3.) it was/is in in the process of being destroyed (the tallgrass prairie of the midwest is 99% gone, and the shortgrass prairie of the western plains is getting plowed due to advances in agriculture) and (4.) that destruction unleashes a triple-whammy of releasing carbon stored in the ground, replacing native plants with the fossil fuel-intensive corn and soybeans, which sends contaminants into drinking sources and aquatic ecosystems, but (5.) now that we realize the biological, climatic, and cultural significance of the ecosystem various restoration efforts are in place however (6.) forces backed by Big Ag, Big Oil, plain ol' fashioned GOP politics are doing everything they can to stop those efforts. It's pretty bleak.
A lot of times, when you read a book about some sort of ecosystem, species, natural phenomenon or what have you it follows a three act structure: The first part talks about the miraculous nature of the thing. The second part talks about the near total destruction of the thing. The third part talks about how we now understand the importance of the thing and a group of dedicated activists, scientist, and/or policymakers are saving the thing. This book tries to do that, but the "ruin" of Part II makes the "redemption" of Part III sound like too little too late. All throughout the book we're hearing about areas the size of New York, or half of Iowa, or whatever, being plowed every year, or having their drinking water contaminated. Then we hear about a prairie restoration project in Minnesota. When they finally mention the size, it's...55 square miles. Really just a drop in the bucket of what used to be. Lots of books about ecological topics make me sad, but like I said earlier, it's bleak.
I would give it 4.5 stars, because some of the chapters go on for a little too long, but I rounded up to 5. The chapter on the reintroduction of the buffalo was my favorite.
The gist of the book is that (1.) the prairie is both a biological hotspot and carbon sink on par with the tropical rainforest but (2.) due to being seen as "a vast expanse of nothing" it doesn't have the romance or legal protection of other landscapes so (3.) it was/is in in the process of being destroyed (the tallgrass prairie of the midwest is 99% gone, and the shortgrass prairie of the western plains is getting plowed due to advances in agriculture) and (4.) that destruction unleashes a triple-whammy of releasing carbon stored in the ground, replacing native plants with the fossil fuel-intensive corn and soybeans, which sends contaminants into drinking sources and aquatic ecosystems, but (5.) now that we realize the biological, climatic, and cultural significance of the ecosystem various restoration efforts are in place however (6.) forces backed by Big Ag, Big Oil, plain ol' fashioned GOP politics are doing everything they can to stop those efforts. It's pretty bleak.
A lot of times, when you read a book about some sort of ecosystem, species, natural phenomenon or what have you it follows a three act structure: The first part talks about the miraculous nature of the thing. The second part talks about the near total destruction of the thing. The third part talks about how we now understand the importance of the thing and a group of dedicated activists, scientist, and/or policymakers are saving the thing. This book tries to do that, but the "ruin" of Part II makes the "redemption" of Part III sound like too little too late. All throughout the book we're hearing about areas the size of New York, or half of Iowa, or whatever, being plowed every year, or having their drinking water contaminated. Then we hear about a prairie restoration project in Minnesota. When they finally mention the size, it's...55 square miles. Really just a drop in the bucket of what used to be. Lots of books about ecological topics make me sad, but like I said earlier, it's bleak.
I would give it 4.5 stars, because some of the chapters go on for a little too long, but I rounded up to 5. The chapter on the reintroduction of the buffalo was my favorite.
November 20, 2024
My problem with this book is not that’s it’s irrelevant or poorly written. I have just been reading books that are on overlapping topics having to do with natural history and I was aware of many issues covered in this book. For example, I recently read Timothy Egan’s Worst Hard Time and this book also has a chapter on the dust bowl. I belong to the Native Plant Society and worked at university agriculture research department so I am aware of the issues and learning more all the time. It’s not as grim as people think there are conservation ranching projects like the Bamberger Preserve in Texas that all over the country. Agricultural researchers are looking at alternatives for cattle feed (insects) and biofuels (sea algae) that do not require pesticides and water resources.
July 18, 2025
The American grassland is probably one of the most underrated great things of America. And this book describes it beautifully. The history, the ecosystem, the relation between nature and human - it's a great story of our beautiful earth. I read the book right after I visited those grasslands so I could visualize lots of things easily. Great book about a great landscape!
January 29, 2026
One of many reasons I read is to keep myself from despairing over the current state of the world. The destruction reported in Sea of Grass was not an antidote. In the great center of the country, our vast American prairie, we have genocided peoples and polluted our air, water, wildlife, and soils.
We are not the first people to do this. Many civilizations have fallen because of the overuse of resources. But the authors state we are the first people to be aware of the cataclysmic destruction we are causing. The authors believe, "we could be the first civilization with the knowledge to change course in time. If we also have the heart."
The authors devoted the better part of a chapter to the Des Moines Water Works suing the drainage districts in their watershed in order to cover the city's exorbitant cost of cleaning its drinking water. The suit failed and one of the state legislature's responses was to defund two centers at Iowa State University that researched sustainable agriculture and conservation practices. Additionally the legislature cut funding for water quality sensors here in the cancer capital. If we don't know the water is bad, that can't be one of the causes, can it?
If you know me, you know I loved the chapter on tatanka and learning bison facts. Maybe my favorite anecdote was about the biologists who were doing a wolf count by plane using infrared sensors to pick up their body heat. The plane flew over a herd of bison without a blip because they are so well insulated, they don't lose body heat.
The book gave me a couple of duh-I-shouda-know-that moments. Like, it is called a "combine" because it "simultaneously cuts the stalk and threshes the grain from the stems." And buffalo skin was used to make belts for factories across the US because it was particularly strong. I always thought of belts as rubber or synthetic, but leather came first.
P.S. Right now there are two democrats running for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, both of them seem to want to do something to improve our land and water. I will be paying attention to make an informed decision in the June 2026 primary.
We are not the first people to do this. Many civilizations have fallen because of the overuse of resources. But the authors state we are the first people to be aware of the cataclysmic destruction we are causing. The authors believe, "we could be the first civilization with the knowledge to change course in time. If we also have the heart."
The authors devoted the better part of a chapter to the Des Moines Water Works suing the drainage districts in their watershed in order to cover the city's exorbitant cost of cleaning its drinking water. The suit failed and one of the state legislature's responses was to defund two centers at Iowa State University that researched sustainable agriculture and conservation practices. Additionally the legislature cut funding for water quality sensors here in the cancer capital. If we don't know the water is bad, that can't be one of the causes, can it?
If you know me, you know I loved the chapter on tatanka and learning bison facts. Maybe my favorite anecdote was about the biologists who were doing a wolf count by plane using infrared sensors to pick up their body heat. The plane flew over a herd of bison without a blip because they are so well insulated, they don't lose body heat.
The book gave me a couple of duh-I-shouda-know-that moments. Like, it is called a "combine" because it "simultaneously cuts the stalk and threshes the grain from the stems." And buffalo skin was used to make belts for factories across the US because it was particularly strong. I always thought of belts as rubber or synthetic, but leather came first.
P.S. Right now there are two democrats running for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, both of them seem to want to do something to improve our land and water. I will be paying attention to make an informed decision in the June 2026 primary.
September 6, 2025
Overall I thought this was a well-written and interesting read, with a few personal caveats. It took me a while to get through it, which is a personal failing, but it actually is very readable for all of the information packed into it.
I do think it's a slight disservice to readers that the subtitle doesn't mention anything about farming, because essentially the middle 200 pages of this book are a primer on farming in the former prairies. I suppose it's obvious to spend so much time on farming, because they've taken over the prairies, but I was unprepared. That being said, I thought the look at farming and farming-adjacent environmental issues in the past and present was surprisingly eye-opening, as I know nothing about agriculture. The authors also portrayed farmers fairly while still acknowledging the damage being caused.
My other minor complaint is that at times you can tell this was derived from a newspaper series. Some key points or important pieces of data about the importance of the prairies or carbon sequestering or other thesis points were repeated in subsequent chapters, which makes sense if this was serialized. Not a major issue, but noticeable. However, despite two authors, I didn't notice any split in the writing voice.
Honestly though, I feel I learned a lot from this book and am thinking about fertilizer more than I ever thought I would. Just be prepared for the prairie/farming content distribution!
I do think it's a slight disservice to readers that the subtitle doesn't mention anything about farming, because essentially the middle 200 pages of this book are a primer on farming in the former prairies. I suppose it's obvious to spend so much time on farming, because they've taken over the prairies, but I was unprepared. That being said, I thought the look at farming and farming-adjacent environmental issues in the past and present was surprisingly eye-opening, as I know nothing about agriculture. The authors also portrayed farmers fairly while still acknowledging the damage being caused.
My other minor complaint is that at times you can tell this was derived from a newspaper series. Some key points or important pieces of data about the importance of the prairies or carbon sequestering or other thesis points were repeated in subsequent chapters, which makes sense if this was serialized. Not a major issue, but noticeable. However, despite two authors, I didn't notice any split in the writing voice.
Honestly though, I feel I learned a lot from this book and am thinking about fertilizer more than I ever thought I would. Just be prepared for the prairie/farming content distribution!
March 16, 2026
As I’ve read in other books about the effect of humanity on nature, we’re really royally forking things up. It’s crazy to think how literally everything is interconnected — from farming and irrigation practices to using specific kinds of fertilizer and bug spray to the waterways and more — and how much everything relies on each other to thrive and survive. But as the last half of the book points out, there is hope as pockets of people try different things to save the prairie or at least change how we view it. I just hope these changes can be implemented and things changed for the better.
January 7, 2026
Well rounded book detailing the many issues facing the prairie and how they were destroyed to begin with. I had no idea how ignorant I was to the plight of conservation within the Great Plains. Having read Buffalo for the Broken Heart, I see what’s possible for our food system. Really it takes a government willing to fund clean water, from local to state to federal level.
February 20, 2026
I was looking forward to this book because I thought it was more about the history of the prairie and its settling. Though it was more geared towards agricultural science and current events. Not a bad book, just not my vibe.
July 14, 2025
Learned lots about prairies! Skipped the chapter on bison, but I wish the landscape was filled wall to wall the big beasties.
September 16, 2025
grass is cool, bison stick out their tongues while running, lets visit the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge in MN or American Prairie in Montana
November 11, 2025
took me forever because i didnt want it to be done. made me cry a lot.
Read
March 24, 2026More info than I thought I needed on the subject (i was wrong and the book was right).
May 4, 2025
Just terrific.
December 31, 2025
Solid popular writing about the ecology of the western prairie. Hoping I retain some basics, such as how important grasses are in fixing and storing carbon, and the wild tile drains under so so much of the west. Good examples of conservationists, ranchers, farmers, tribes working together.
August 22, 2025
The authors begin Part Three of their book with this quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer:
"Plants know how to make food and medicine from light and water, and then they give it away."
That pretty much summarizes how essential the prairie (a sea of grass) is to our health, our environment, our well-being.
"Plants know how to make food and medicine from light and water, and then they give it away."
That pretty much summarizes how essential the prairie (a sea of grass) is to our health, our environment, our well-being.
October 8, 2025
An excellent derailed summary of the downside of modern agriculture. And well written.
June 2, 2025
*3.5*
I learned a lot, though parts of the framing were concerningly neoliberal with regard to the genocidal history of the grasslands.
I learned a lot, though parts of the framing were concerningly neoliberal with regard to the genocidal history of the grasslands.
September 9, 2025
Some excellent material, marred all too frequently by completely unnecessary political partisanship. A real shame.
July 17, 2025
"If a place isn't worth a vacation, is it worth protecting?"
To know something is to understand it, and with understanding, can come love and protection. For many Americans, the North American prairie is an oft out-of-sight, out-of-mind backdrop - a checkbox on a middle-grade geography test, a painted backdrop in a history lesson, and a wide, flat, and likely boring stretch of a trip to more exciting and exotic places by and or by air. Though the American prairie often takes on a mythical, aloof, barren, and somewhat despairing backdrop for TV dramas and old-time cowboy shows, it - like the universe - contains multitudes, providing a dazzling and dramatic backdrop for endless cycles of new birth, rebirth and reincarnation for untold numbers of living creatures that call the great grass seas home.
Though strangers from strange lands found this walkable sea to be unforgiving and ungovernable when they arrived over two centuries ago, human innovation in the form of the steel plow, artificial drainage, and nitrogen fertilizers sparked a revolution that would change the land and its people (both its native inhabitants and its foreign colonizers) forever. With great change, unfortunately, comes the opportunity for great calamity, which the farmers, consumers, and inhabitants of this landscape in modern times are experiencing first-hand as the balance of the prairie tips toward insurmountable ecological disaster.
Part epic history, part ecological exploration, and part call to arms, "Sea of Grass" draws readers to the unsung wilderness of a faraway sea - one of a biological diversity that would put a tropical rainforest to shame, and from which great transformation - and both boundless success and unfathomable loss - has been unearthed.
I adored this book, and highly recommend the audiobook while taking a walk through whatever kids of nature you have available to you. I definitely learned a lot about American prairie land that I had no knowledge of before - and that's as someone who likes to regularly read books about nature, ecology, and plant/animal/life science. I also really loved how the historical exploration of the prairie blended seamlessly into a bigger discussion around colonialism, resource exploitation, science in the name of "progress", and current affairs.
I think this book was a great call-to-arms that also explored on a more approachable level the way that these greater players - 200 years of history, a ecological cataclysm, and endless miles of "unused" land - affect individuals, families, communities, and cities on an intimate level. Readers interested in finding something to believe in and love about American in a time where that is increasingly hard, and who wish to learn more about the ways in which people are fighting back against the loss of an irreplaceable ecosystem (and potentially what they can do to help) should pick up this masterpiece!
To know something is to understand it, and with understanding, can come love and protection. For many Americans, the North American prairie is an oft out-of-sight, out-of-mind backdrop - a checkbox on a middle-grade geography test, a painted backdrop in a history lesson, and a wide, flat, and likely boring stretch of a trip to more exciting and exotic places by and or by air. Though the American prairie often takes on a mythical, aloof, barren, and somewhat despairing backdrop for TV dramas and old-time cowboy shows, it - like the universe - contains multitudes, providing a dazzling and dramatic backdrop for endless cycles of new birth, rebirth and reincarnation for untold numbers of living creatures that call the great grass seas home.
Though strangers from strange lands found this walkable sea to be unforgiving and ungovernable when they arrived over two centuries ago, human innovation in the form of the steel plow, artificial drainage, and nitrogen fertilizers sparked a revolution that would change the land and its people (both its native inhabitants and its foreign colonizers) forever. With great change, unfortunately, comes the opportunity for great calamity, which the farmers, consumers, and inhabitants of this landscape in modern times are experiencing first-hand as the balance of the prairie tips toward insurmountable ecological disaster.
Part epic history, part ecological exploration, and part call to arms, "Sea of Grass" draws readers to the unsung wilderness of a faraway sea - one of a biological diversity that would put a tropical rainforest to shame, and from which great transformation - and both boundless success and unfathomable loss - has been unearthed.
I adored this book, and highly recommend the audiobook while taking a walk through whatever kids of nature you have available to you. I definitely learned a lot about American prairie land that I had no knowledge of before - and that's as someone who likes to regularly read books about nature, ecology, and plant/animal/life science. I also really loved how the historical exploration of the prairie blended seamlessly into a bigger discussion around colonialism, resource exploitation, science in the name of "progress", and current affairs.
I think this book was a great call-to-arms that also explored on a more approachable level the way that these greater players - 200 years of history, a ecological cataclysm, and endless miles of "unused" land - affect individuals, families, communities, and cities on an intimate level. Readers interested in finding something to believe in and love about American in a time where that is increasingly hard, and who wish to learn more about the ways in which people are fighting back against the loss of an irreplaceable ecosystem (and potentially what they can do to help) should pick up this masterpiece!
October 31, 2025
This book is an informative and timely clarion call identifying environmental dangers of current US agricultural policy and its associated destruction of the North American prairie. Well-researched and objective in tone. Incredibly apropos given recent WaPo article about exploding rates of cancer in young people living in the nation's Corn Belt (10/27), an area that is in the middle of (literally and figuratively) this story.
There is extensive discussion of the environmental degradation caused by nitrate-based fertilizers ala Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner in decades past. From the Red River Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, manmade pesticides have polluted our drinking water and continue to poison us in great numbers. Agricultural interests debunk these claims and suggest it's a small price to pay for the abundance of food they produce in the process.
As the WaPo story illustrates, these chickens are finally coming home to roost in great numbers, in ways that debunk those who maligned Carson, Commoner, et al., as Cassandras. This sh** is getting real and this book again draws our attention to a critical problem we face but one about which we don't hear much anymore. The murmur might have died down recently but the problem hasn't gone away and has only gotten worse.
The authors are journalists who wrote this book to expand on a series of articles they published previously in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where both work. I've been reading history extensively since undergraduate and graduate study of history in the 1980s. I'm always tickled at how much better journalists are at telling a story then historians or other academics who write books of this nature.
I have only one small quibble with this book, that otherwise would earn a 5-star rating from me. The authors published their newspaper series in 2012 Figured they would have completed their manuscript for this book within the last year or two. Despite some brief follow-up information in the Epilogue, would have liked some more detailed/recent updates on efforts by individuals and organization identified in the book to arrest some of the environmental destruction on the Great Plains.
Think their extensive analysis could have benefitted from some more detailed updates on what has happened, good and bad, to the subjects and locations they identified, over the past 10 years? Also, would have liked to hear their perspective on what might happen in the future, i.e, some prediction on whether these disparate efforts will reach a critical mass and perhaps make a substantial difference over time.
Again, my complaint shouldn't otherwise detract from a well-told tale that should be of interest to a wide swath of our countrymen and -women. READ THIS BOOK!!
There is extensive discussion of the environmental degradation caused by nitrate-based fertilizers ala Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner in decades past. From the Red River Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, manmade pesticides have polluted our drinking water and continue to poison us in great numbers. Agricultural interests debunk these claims and suggest it's a small price to pay for the abundance of food they produce in the process.
As the WaPo story illustrates, these chickens are finally coming home to roost in great numbers, in ways that debunk those who maligned Carson, Commoner, et al., as Cassandras. This sh** is getting real and this book again draws our attention to a critical problem we face but one about which we don't hear much anymore. The murmur might have died down recently but the problem hasn't gone away and has only gotten worse.
The authors are journalists who wrote this book to expand on a series of articles they published previously in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where both work. I've been reading history extensively since undergraduate and graduate study of history in the 1980s. I'm always tickled at how much better journalists are at telling a story then historians or other academics who write books of this nature.
I have only one small quibble with this book, that otherwise would earn a 5-star rating from me. The authors published their newspaper series in 2012 Figured they would have completed their manuscript for this book within the last year or two. Despite some brief follow-up information in the Epilogue, would have liked some more detailed/recent updates on efforts by individuals and organization identified in the book to arrest some of the environmental destruction on the Great Plains.
Think their extensive analysis could have benefitted from some more detailed updates on what has happened, good and bad, to the subjects and locations they identified, over the past 10 years? Also, would have liked to hear their perspective on what might happen in the future, i.e, some prediction on whether these disparate efforts will reach a critical mass and perhaps make a substantial difference over time.
Again, my complaint shouldn't otherwise detract from a well-told tale that should be of interest to a wide swath of our countrymen and -women. READ THIS BOOK!!
March 25, 2026
The prairies of the American Midwest and West have always been special to me. I grew up in a rural farming community in Kansas, a place where thunderstorms and tornadoes were both pedestrian and awe-inspiring. Much of the land I grew up on gets a bad reputation for being flat, but nothing makes you feel smaller than sitting in a vast ocean of corn staring up at the night sky. Living further north (and in a major city), I miss the stars, the silence, and the swaths of empty space from the prairie.
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie is a deep exploration. It begins by tracing the history of the prairie at a large scale: from its importance to indigenous communities to the current cash crop craze of corn and soybeans. Following that, it devotes time to specific topics: insects, soil, nitrogen, bison, etc. It shifts between testimonials, scientific research, and case studies as it makes its case for the ecological and societal importance of the great American prairies.
Largely, it succeeds.
I learned a lot from this book. It put much of my personal history in context, called into account my personal connections to the ecological collapse of this landscape, and shed light on how important the ecosystem is to preventing climate change. It also directly connects to work I do at school. In my 6th grade curriculum, we spend a month working on nonfiction reading & informational writing skills focused on nitrogen pollution from Minnesota farms and their impact downstream, including the ‘Dead Zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico.
The book is largely hopeful in tone. It’s presenting an optimistic front, but I couldn’t help but doubt the underlying assumption that American society will make the changes it outlines as necessary. Early in the book Hage and Marcotty explore the idea that humanity, like all other species on Earth, faces a population cap directly reliant on its ability to feed itself. The drive for more intense food production has led to ecological destruction of a precious resource. I wish they would have returned to this when highlighting solutions. Many of the sustainable farmers and ranchers featured in this book are doing the hard work. However, feeding 8 Billion people (and counting) simply isn’t sustainable, and the book kept dodging this idea. I mean this not as a critique or a statement we shouldn’t push for ecological restoration and sustainable food production. Rather, I wish it were acknowledged more fully; near-term harm ensures the long-term future of our species.
Sea of Grass was an engaging nonfiction book, though I don’t read enough to have a good sense of comparison to other books in this style. Would I have found it as engaging without the large amount of personal connections to the content? Not sure.
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie is a deep exploration. It begins by tracing the history of the prairie at a large scale: from its importance to indigenous communities to the current cash crop craze of corn and soybeans. Following that, it devotes time to specific topics: insects, soil, nitrogen, bison, etc. It shifts between testimonials, scientific research, and case studies as it makes its case for the ecological and societal importance of the great American prairies.
Largely, it succeeds.
I learned a lot from this book. It put much of my personal history in context, called into account my personal connections to the ecological collapse of this landscape, and shed light on how important the ecosystem is to preventing climate change. It also directly connects to work I do at school. In my 6th grade curriculum, we spend a month working on nonfiction reading & informational writing skills focused on nitrogen pollution from Minnesota farms and their impact downstream, including the ‘Dead Zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico.
The book is largely hopeful in tone. It’s presenting an optimistic front, but I couldn’t help but doubt the underlying assumption that American society will make the changes it outlines as necessary. Early in the book Hage and Marcotty explore the idea that humanity, like all other species on Earth, faces a population cap directly reliant on its ability to feed itself. The drive for more intense food production has led to ecological destruction of a precious resource. I wish they would have returned to this when highlighting solutions. Many of the sustainable farmers and ranchers featured in this book are doing the hard work. However, feeding 8 Billion people (and counting) simply isn’t sustainable, and the book kept dodging this idea. I mean this not as a critique or a statement we shouldn’t push for ecological restoration and sustainable food production. Rather, I wish it were acknowledged more fully; near-term harm ensures the long-term future of our species.
Sea of Grass was an engaging nonfiction book, though I don’t read enough to have a good sense of comparison to other books in this style. Would I have found it as engaging without the large amount of personal connections to the content? Not sure.
January 9, 2026
This is an excellent book. It's well researched and up-to-date with plenty of interviews of different viewpoints on the ground and in organizations. The descriptions of research from the University of Minnesota are from people and labs I'm very familiar with. They were well represented and also covered contrary views as well. These are complex topics because people live and work on the Prairie, and aside from everything else, they need to make a living. Everybody in the Plain States can't just move somewhere and we just convert it to a Buffalo Commons. Not to mention the food grown. I grew up on the Prairie as a grandchild of homesteaders. I worked at the University of Minnesota around these sustainability and climate topics so I'm pretty familiar with both points of view. I thought this book covered them both pretty well. It can help you understand both the Ecology of what's going on and the Economy. There's obviously ideology in there as well but the book has a number of examples showing how to incorporate both those views into ways to address some of these issues going forward and deal with the ideology.
Some quotes -
"Some parts of Minnesota- the land of 10,000 lakes - have entire counties where not one lake is safe for children to swim. The EPA has stated that agriculture has become the nation's leading source of water pollution and rivers."
"Corn and soy beans have become more profitable than cattle, largely because generous federal subsidies and breakthroughs in hybrid seed and herbicides have made crop farming practical in the dry Dakotas. Now the plows are slicing up the mixed and short grass prairies of the western prairie, a place that has been in grass for thousands of years. The result? Ecologist say the North American grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems on earth."
"Joe Handelsman estimates that a 10% increase worldwide in what's called soil organic matter -carbon rich plant and animal residues that are decomposing- in the next few decades could reduce atmospheric carbon by a remarkable 25%."
The term “sparing versus sharing” is used to refer to spare the prairie by converting it back to wildland or share it between traditional species and farming / ranching. There are examples of both but clearly in the long term it has to be shared. It's a long battle but there are definitely signs of things going in the right direction. Highly recommend the book.
Some quotes -
"Some parts of Minnesota- the land of 10,000 lakes - have entire counties where not one lake is safe for children to swim. The EPA has stated that agriculture has become the nation's leading source of water pollution and rivers."
"Corn and soy beans have become more profitable than cattle, largely because generous federal subsidies and breakthroughs in hybrid seed and herbicides have made crop farming practical in the dry Dakotas. Now the plows are slicing up the mixed and short grass prairies of the western prairie, a place that has been in grass for thousands of years. The result? Ecologist say the North American grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems on earth."
"Joe Handelsman estimates that a 10% increase worldwide in what's called soil organic matter -carbon rich plant and animal residues that are decomposing- in the next few decades could reduce atmospheric carbon by a remarkable 25%."
The term “sparing versus sharing” is used to refer to spare the prairie by converting it back to wildland or share it between traditional species and farming / ranching. There are examples of both but clearly in the long term it has to be shared. It's a long battle but there are definitely signs of things going in the right direction. Highly recommend the book.
July 19, 2025
Review of “Sea of Grass” is a bit difficult, as the book provides an excellent documentation of a very real problems but then struggles some with objectivity. The book highlights the negative impacts of intensive corn-soybean cultivation throughout the Midwest and less convincingly of grazing systems further west. The criticisms of these human impacts from agriculture come across as a bit gratuitous in not recognizing human impacts on the East Coast and other areas of human habitation. This is despite a clear attempt to balance the perspectives of those dependent on agriculture with its detractors. Various issues - some are minor – suggest a lack of balance in the way they are treated. Aren’t seeds dispersed in cattle droppings, as in buffalo? How different is methane production from cattle versus wild ruminants? Buffalo are called ‘priceless’ despite many examples cited of actual prices for buffalo. European displacement of native people may be rightly criticized as colonization, but displacement of one group of native people by another is treated as a normal process. There is little discussion of pre-European human impacts on the grasslands – perhaps these were limited but the large Cahokia city must have had impact. The book is an important read but should be approached critically, as the authors may be taking the very real chemical runoff problems of the Corn-Soybean Belt and trying to generalize too far.
July 28, 2025
Great book on the American Prairie. It's arranged into three section--past, present, and future. The section on the history of the prairie is excellent and should be used in college and high school history classes. It's informative without getting bogged down into too many details.
The section on the present is an interesting expose on farming in the Midwest, and in the world in general. Hage details how we have destroyed the land and the fertile soil that the native grasses produced, only to dump tons of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on them to grow more crops. All these chemicals end up running into creeks, which run into rivers, which drains into the Mississippi River and creates a "dead zone" the size of the state of New Jersey.
The authors also cover the other contemporary issues facing farmers and environmentalists, so it's not just a history lesson. Things like bugs, fertilizer, Federal subsidies.
The last part deals with efforts by conservationists to protect the land and restore some of the native prairie when helping farmers and ranchers. The authors talk to a lot of farmers in the area, as well as university experts. It's depressing to read about how many ranchers are plowing under the remaining prairie grass to grow more corn. As if we don't have enough already.
It's a really excellent book. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
PHILIP KUHN
The section on the present is an interesting expose on farming in the Midwest, and in the world in general. Hage details how we have destroyed the land and the fertile soil that the native grasses produced, only to dump tons of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on them to grow more crops. All these chemicals end up running into creeks, which run into rivers, which drains into the Mississippi River and creates a "dead zone" the size of the state of New Jersey.
The authors also cover the other contemporary issues facing farmers and environmentalists, so it's not just a history lesson. Things like bugs, fertilizer, Federal subsidies.
The last part deals with efforts by conservationists to protect the land and restore some of the native prairie when helping farmers and ranchers. The authors talk to a lot of farmers in the area, as well as university experts. It's depressing to read about how many ranchers are plowing under the remaining prairie grass to grow more corn. As if we don't have enough already.
It's a really excellent book. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
PHILIP KUHN
September 20, 2025
I got this in the leadup to my four-day jaunt across Kansas and Missouri. Though pretty long and detailed, it’s exactly what I wanted in an environmental, political, and geological history of the prairie that makes up so much of the middle of the country.
But above all it is a history of a colonized land, taken by European settlers encouraged by an American government, whose arrogance of progress led to the degradation of lands, a destruction that would wreak havoc on native peoples and the land alike.
Hage and Marcotty do a great job at dividing this history by chapter, focusing first on different elements that define the landscape of this land, from the Prairie to the Plow to the Nitrogen, each way describing how we altered this landscape, sometimes for good, but mostly for bad. Or at least with an abandonment of reason for short-term profit.
We learn of the ecology of the land, how it works as an agricultural paradise, in chapters on River, Dirt, Bugs, and Water, each showing us the valuable and intricate system on makes this such fertile ground — and what we have to lose if we take it for granted.
In Ranchers, Farmers, and Tatanka, we learn of the people who settled on and manage this land. The different solutions, the different politics, the different food grown, and rural-urban divide, and the culture surrounding this land and its history.
The thing is, this isn’t all bad. This prairie “produced astonishing beauty, gave land to landless immigrants, and built a prosperous rural society while establishing the West as a uniquely American place.” But we also sucked this land dry and plowed over it recklessly in our pursuit of the American dream.
Now we must not only face the ecological problems we created, but also a new set” climate change, water scarcity, tainted well, vanishing wildlife, polluted rivers, etc. But Sea of Grass also offers a vision of hope, laden with solutions and people that are changing practices to respect this land and make it work for people and for wildlife for future generations.
It’s just such an all-encompassing perspective and deep dive of a region that is so often overlooked. And it’s written with clarity and accessibility, weaving historical context throughout, that it makes for a rewarding and enlightening read.
But above all it is a history of a colonized land, taken by European settlers encouraged by an American government, whose arrogance of progress led to the degradation of lands, a destruction that would wreak havoc on native peoples and the land alike.
Hage and Marcotty do a great job at dividing this history by chapter, focusing first on different elements that define the landscape of this land, from the Prairie to the Plow to the Nitrogen, each way describing how we altered this landscape, sometimes for good, but mostly for bad. Or at least with an abandonment of reason for short-term profit.
We learn of the ecology of the land, how it works as an agricultural paradise, in chapters on River, Dirt, Bugs, and Water, each showing us the valuable and intricate system on makes this such fertile ground — and what we have to lose if we take it for granted.
In Ranchers, Farmers, and Tatanka, we learn of the people who settled on and manage this land. The different solutions, the different politics, the different food grown, and rural-urban divide, and the culture surrounding this land and its history.
The thing is, this isn’t all bad. This prairie “produced astonishing beauty, gave land to landless immigrants, and built a prosperous rural society while establishing the West as a uniquely American place.” But we also sucked this land dry and plowed over it recklessly in our pursuit of the American dream.
Now we must not only face the ecological problems we created, but also a new set” climate change, water scarcity, tainted well, vanishing wildlife, polluted rivers, etc. But Sea of Grass also offers a vision of hope, laden with solutions and people that are changing practices to respect this land and make it work for people and for wildlife for future generations.
It’s just such an all-encompassing perspective and deep dive of a region that is so often overlooked. And it’s written with clarity and accessibility, weaving historical context throughout, that it makes for a rewarding and enlightening read.
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