This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America's National Monuments

"In This Contested Land, McKenzie Long reframes national monuments in the American consciousness. With painterly language, superb historical research, and engaging boots-on-the-ground storytelling, this book explores crevices for meaning and truth in what for many is a gray area between politics and place. This is a vivid, smart, and overdue book."-Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World

 

"This Contested Land takes readers deep into debates over national monuments. Through interviews, exploration, and vivid history, McKenzie Long unearths conflicting attitudes about human relationships to land and wildlife, tensions that go to the heart of our relationship with our country. This insightful book is essential reading for anyone who wants a better understanding of these fraught areas' past and future."-Kim Todd, author of Sensational: The Hidden History of America's "Girl Stunt Reporters"

 

"With intricately woven stories and stunningly artistic prose, This Contested Land invokes the intense power of relationships between humans and landscapes-a force that not only influences what people think should happen to a specific place but what the future of our Earth itself might become."-Katie Ives, editor-in-chief of Alpinist and author of Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams

 

"McKenzie Long takes an evenhanded and compelling view of the complex nature of national monuments both past, present, and future. She masterfully weaves the challenging history that precedes our current time-one of brutal Indigenous removal-with the current context of settler communities that are tied into these landscapes today. Her telling of her relationships with these places gives us deeper insight into the future we will share together on our public lands."-Len Necefer, Ph.D., CEO and founder, NativesOutdoors

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in national monuments today, their values, and the issues surrounding them."-National Parks Traveler

 

"Long's reporting is balanced, and her accounts are comprehensive, but the passages detailing her passion for these national treasures and for preserving and protecting them are the book's most compelling parts. A great storyteller, she has a knack for weaving in personal anecdotes and telling details, helping readers appreciate both the beauty of these monuments and the challenges they face."-Booklist

 

"A treatise on the importance of public lands and the necessity of cooperation in the fraught political climate of the Unites States, This Contested Land is a testament to the power of creative nonfiction to unite the past, present, and future in a single meaningful volume."-H-Net

 

"A beautiful homage to the contested lands of the West and beyond."-Sunset Magazine