Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: New York The Macmillan company in 1907 in 56 pages; Subjects: Arizona; Arizona - History; History / Americas; History / United States / State ... Read more

Product Description
In 1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado introduced the first domestic livestock to the American Southwest. Over the subsequent four centuries, cattle, horses, and sheep have created a massive ecological experiment on these arid grasslands, changing them in ways we can never know with certainty. The Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch in the high desert of southeastern Arizona is an 8,000-acre sanctuary where grazing has been banned since 1968. In this spirited account of thirty years of research at the ranch, Carl and Jane Bock summarize the results of their fieldwork, which was aimed at understanding the dynamics of grasslands in the absence of livestock. The View from Bald Hill provides an intimate look at the natural history of this unique site and illuminates many issues pertaining to the protection and restoration of our nation's grasslands. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Watching the Grass Grow
In 1968, all cattle and other domestic animals were removed from the 7,800 acre Bald Hill ranch in southern Arizona.The authors moved to the ranch to conduct a lengthy experiment:what happens to ungrazed, unutilized, unmanipulated-by-man land?Not entirely unmanipulated, of course, natural events -- fire, flood, and drought were allowed to go unchecked and their impact evaluated.The results, the authors are quick to assert, are not all in yet -- but many of their findings and observations are interesting and subtle.For example, grazing -- or lack thereof -- has an impact on grasshopper, rodent, and bird populations, both in terms of their numbers and the species that are present.And there is no stability; a fire, a dry year, or a wet year can discombobulate what seemed a "natural" equilibrium.

"The View from Bald Hill" is a fine piece of nature writing withscientific content accumulated during 30 years of mostly passive observation of grass growing and birds buzzing on a a big chunk of semi-desert land.It tackles the long-term confrontation betweeen ranchers and environmentalists in a sensitive and fair way.The authors are environmentalists but not hostile to ranching. They tell us that they find ranchers "more interesting than lawyers, lobbyists, or legislators." Good photographs dot the text and an extensive bibliography and notes refers the reader to sources. This is an important book to read for those are interested inenvironmental issues in the Southwest.

Smallchief

native grassland conservation & research in SE AZ
THE VIEW FROM BALD HILL:THIRTY YEARS IN AN ARIZONA GRASSLAND, Carl E. Bock, and Jane H. Bock (University of California Press, Berkeley CA 94720, 196pp.):For about twenty-five years, Drs. Carl and Jane Bock (both of them professors at the University of Colorado) have spent their summers in research at the National Audubon Society's 7,800 acre Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch 60 miles southeast of Tucson. Originally part of the Babocomari Grant, the Research Ranch and the land surrounding it had been heavily grazed by cattle for many years until 1968, when the Appleton family, who owned it at the time, removed the cattle altogether and dedicated the Ranch as an environmental preserve and as a lab for ecological research.The Bocks arrived soon afterward.This very readable book relates what they have learned over the years about an arid grassy region left entirely alone to be its natural self.Their book tells an exciting story about an increasingly rare kind of landscape. ... Read more

Product Description
This book changes the way we view our everyday human landscapes by taking us on a 22-stop adventure through the heart of Flagstaff, Arizona. In Flagstaff's America Tour, the reader encounters four distinct though interacting landscape scenes: a themed historic business district, a pre-War multi-ethnic neighborhood, an expanding university campus, and a dynamic automobile commercial strip. Prior to the tour, Part 1 introduces us to the fascinating study of geography and the interpretation of human landscapes. In Part 2 Paradis discusses the expansion of the AT&SF Railway and its role in Flagstaff's own historical development. He further analyzes the implications of this global cargo corridor on Flagstaff's local community and themed landscapes. The entire book integrates a variety of cultural, economic, political, global, and environmental perspectives to understand the complexities of our everyday world. Whether enjoyed from the bustling streets of downtown Flagstaff or from the comfort of our own homes, Theme Town will encourage us to see our own local places with fresh and inquisitive eyes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Story (Especially If You Know Flagstaff)
The author is a local geography professor and has a keen interest in Flagstaff history.Theme Town hits the highlights of the town's historic development and railroad culture.

The book is an easy read, and serves as a local history book, a geography text, and an brief overview to human settlement.While the intent to mix all three in one volume is noble, a professional editor may have tightened the book's "jump-between-subjects" format.

It's a great read for someone looking for an alternative history lesson of Flagstaff, but will make most sense to those who live there.It's well worth the money for a Sunday afternoon read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating peek at how to figure out what plants are edible
One of the best books on development of the`human diet.Fascinating material for anyone who`ever wondered how people decided (for instance) that cassava, a poisonous plant, could be rendered edible by leaching and cooking. Recently reissued as a paperback, retitled`Origins of Human Diet and Medicine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

well worthy of your shelf space
this book is one of the FEW books i looked forward to reading, and was able to finish AND understand in its entirety while studying as an anthropology undergrad.it was very informative, and lacked the annoying jargon too-commonly used by overeducated researchers trying to entertain their colleagues.had i read this earlier in my degree program, i might have chosen to pursue this field more closely.thanks for the inspiration, leslie.

Four reviews by professionals
Here are short excerpts of what some professional anthropologists have written in reviews of this book in major journals:

John Bodley - "Very timely collection...examines key issues...a self-conscious andvery successful attempt to combine basic and applied perspectives...."(American Anthropologist June 1996).

Jerome Levi - "For those whothought that as our discipline approaches the third millennium ecologicalanthropology had subsided beneath thewaves of postmodernism, this bookwill come as a virtual tsunami." (American Ethnologist November1995).

Bartholomew Dean - "This volume is a most welcome addition toour emergent understanding of the political ecology of lowland SouthAmerica... For those complacent about the future of Amazonia and theregion's inhabitants, this book provides a clarion call to action."(Cultural Survival Quarterly Fall 1995).

Richard Reed - "The volumeprovides strategic lessons.... the authors survey Amazonian realitiesignored by recent developers.... the volume raises critical issues involvedin protecting forests and peoples from the ravages of development."(Journal of Anthropological Research Spring 1997).

Read the full reviewsand/or the book and judge for yourself!

Four reviews by professionals
Here are short excerpts of what some professional anthropologists have written in reviews of this book in major journals:

John Bodley - "Very timely collection...examines key issues...a self-conscious andvery successful attempt to combine basic and applied perspectives...."(American Anthropologist June 1996).

Jerome Levi - "For those whothought that as our discipline approaches the third millennium ecologicalanthropology had subsided beneath the waves of postmodernism, this bookwill come as a virtual tsunami." (American Ethnologist November1995).

Bartholomew Dean - "This volume is a most welcome addition toour emergent understanding of the political ecology of lowland SouthAmerica... For those complacent about the future of Amazonia and theregion's inhabitants, this book provides a clarion call to action."(Cultural Survival Quarterly Fall 1995).

Richard Reed - "The volumeprovides strategic lessons.... the authors survey Amazonian realitiesignored by recent developers.... the volume raises critical issues involvedin protecting forests and peoples from the ravages of development."(Journal of Anthropological Research Spring 1997).

Read the full reviewsand/or the book and judge for yourself!

Could be much better...
Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia is an anthology which boasts contributions from archaeologists, anthropologists, cultural ecologists and nutritionists, its input from the indigenous population is limited to atwo-page forward by Simeon Jimenez and Nelly Arvelo-Jimenez.

Sponselmentions that an earnest attempt was made to include authors from the nineAmazonian countries. However, in the end, only three of the authors arefrom South America.

Perhaps I'd hoped for a more activist approach, or atleast, a ground-based examination of current environmental practices andpotential strategies. Instead, this is a scholarly book which sticks itsnose in the pages of future academic research and does not appear to belooking up. The book provides no action plan and few resources or contactsfor interested readers.

Still, in its own way, this is an interestingvolume and offers more than a handful of insightful gems. ... Read more

Product Description
The region once known as Pimería Alta—now southern Arizona and northern Sonora—has for more than three centuries been a melting pot for the beliefs of native Tohono O'odham and immigrant Yaquis and those of colonizing Spaniards and Mexicans.One need look no further than the roadside crosses along desert highways or the diversity of local celebrations to sense the richness of this cultural commingling. Folklorist Jim Griffith has lived in the Pimería Alta for more than thirty years, visiting its holy places and attending its fiestas, and has uncovered a background of belief, tradition, and history lying beneath the surface of these cultural expressions.In Beliefs and Holy Places, he reveals some of the supernaturally sanctioned relationships that tie people to places within that region, describing the cultural and religious meanings of locations and showing how bonds between people and places have in turn created relationships between places, a spiritual geography undetectable on physical maps. Throughout the book, Griffith shows how culture moves from legend to art to belief to practice, all the while serving as a dynamic link between past and future.Now as the desert gives way to newcomers, Griffith's book offers visitors and residents alike a rare opportunity to share in these rich traditions. ... Read more

Product Description
The popular Rookie Books expand their horizons - to all corners of the globe! With this series all about geography, emergent readers will take off on adventures to cities, nations, waterways, and habitats around the world…and right in their own backyards. ... Read more