Prairie Lights Books invites you to join veteran journalists Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty as they read from and talk about their new book, Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie.
Described by its publisher, Penguin Random House, as a "vivid portrait of a miraculous ecosystem that makes clear why the future of this region is of essential concern far beyond the heartland," Sea of Grass documents how the North American Prairie has changed since European settlers began farming on it over 200 years ago, and attempts to offer insight into what the land holds for future generations of agriculturalists and Indigenous communities alike.
Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Under a White Sky, praises Sea of Grass as "eloquent both on the complexity of this amazing ecosystem and its fragility," while Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Gulf, praises Sea of Grass as "reclaim[ing] the North American prairie—too long dismissed as a wasteland—as a true wonderland of ecological brilliance and beauty, reminding us that like all of nonhuman nature, the prairie is wiser and more resourceful than the species determined to conquer it."
Dave Hage oversaw environmental and health reporting at the Minneapolis Star Tribune for a dozen years, editing projects that won a Pulitzer Prize and an Edward R. Murrow Award, among other honors. His previous books include No Retreat, No Surrender: Labor’s War at Hormel, and Reforming Welfare by Rewarding Work. A Minneapolis native, he lives in St. Paul with his wife.
Josephine Marcotty is an award-winning environmental journalist who has spent her life in the Midwest. She was a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she covered complex, science-based topics. Sea of Grass is a natural expansion of her reporting on the vanishing prairie and the consequences of intensive agriculture. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband.