Where the Buffalo Roam Loth

by Anne Matthews

Book Overview

Frank and Deborah Popper--he a land-use expert, she a geographer--propose restoring to its natural state and to the buffalo some 149,000 square miles of American prairie currently inhabited by approximately 400,000 people. Matthews gives equal time to the Poppers's vociferous opposition, taking readers on an exhilirating tour through a whopping controversy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802114083
• ISBN13: 9780802114082
• Release Date: February 2018
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 193 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An interesting view of the West

This book is typical of a piece that evolves from a New York Times Magazine article: full of narrative, a bit rammbling at times and a bit on the lite side. Matthews gives some snippets of ecological and historical analysis, but ultimately this is not an analytical book. It is very readable, however, and raises awareness to the ecologic and economic crises of the Great Plains. The piece details two Rutgers academics, the Poppers, who are promoting the notion of a "Buffalo Commons," a plan that involves the federal government buying out the most marginal of Great Plains land to turn into a giant reserve for bison, shortgrass and Indians. The book details much of the angry Western reaction to the plan. It also shows large sections of the West in near ruin, in desperate need of a new, sustainable solution, as current attempts to exploit the arid West by argiculture is producing only dust storms, a depleted aquifier and busted-out farm communities.

The Dilemma on the Great Plains

This book held my constant attention from the first time I picked it up. Ms. Matthews gives a very even-handed account of what I call "The Dilemma on the Great Plains." She thoughtfully explains the Buffalo Commons plan for the restoration of the plains. She introduces Frank and Deborah Popper, New Jersey academics from Rutgers University, who came up with the Buffalo Commons plan. I was riveted because I once lived in South Dakota, near the Montana and Wyoming borders and could empathize with the issue. The Poppers came up with the Buffalo Commons idea in the late 1980s as a way to "save" the plains. It has been very controversial, to say the least. The plains way of life and the emotions of the issue are handled brilliantly by Ms. Matthews. I was able to see both sides throughout the book. This issue has an importance to our nation. Read this book to know the issues about the decline in our Great Plains.