by Aldo Leopold with an introduction by Barbara Kingsolver, 1949 (2020 edition). Paperback, 240 pages.
Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management. Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. Beloved for its description and evocation of the natural world, Leopold's book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.
About the Author
Aldo Leopold was born in Iowa in 1887 and after graduation from the Yale School of Forestry joined the U.S. Forest Service. In 1933 the University of Wisconsin created a chair of game management for him. He died in 1948, fighting a grass fire on a neighbor's farm, shortly after he had become an advisor on conservation to the United Nations.
Barbara Kingsolver is the author of many books, including The Poisonwood Bible and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.
