Magpie Rising: Sketches from the Great Plains

The author has crisscrossed the backbone of the North American continent from Texas to Alberta, driving, camping, hiking, observing land and life forms. Poet Gilfallen presents impressionistic, kaleidoscopic images of the landscape interwoven with threads of its past, both natural and human history. His writing ranges from lyrical to earthy as he travels the minor roads, small towns and river valleys of the Great Plains. Gilfallen celebrates this region as Edward Abbey and Gary Nabhan have the desert West, and John McPhee in the mountain West. The book will have immense local interest, and may kindle a desire among Western buffs to explore the Great Plains. (April)