Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo
The epic story of the buffalo in America, from prehistoric times to today—a moving and beautifully illustrated work of natural history inspired by the PBS series "American Buffalo"

The American buffalo—our nation’s official mammal—is an improbable, shaggy beast that has found itself at the center of many of our most mythic and sometimes heartbreaking tales. The largest land animals in the Western Hemisphere, they are survivors of a mass extinction that erased ancient species that were even larger. For nearly 10,000 years, they evolved alongside Native people who weaved them into every aspect of daily life; relied on them for food, clothing, and shelter; and revered them as equals.

Newcomers to the continent found the buffalo fascinating at first, but in time they came to consider them a hindrance to a young nation’s expansion. And in the space of only a decade, they were slaughtered by the millions for their hides, with their carcasses left to rot on the prairies. Then, teetering on the brink of disappearing from the face of the earth, they would be rescued by a motley collection of Americans, each of them driven by different—and sometimes competing—impulses. This is the rich and complicated story of a young republic's heedless rush to conquer a continent, but also of the dawn of the conservation era—a story of America at its very best and worst.
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Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo
The epic story of the buffalo in America, from prehistoric times to today—a moving and beautifully illustrated work of natural history inspired by the PBS series "American Buffalo"

The American buffalo—our nation’s official mammal—is an improbable, shaggy beast that has found itself at the center of many of our most mythic and sometimes heartbreaking tales. The largest land animals in the Western Hemisphere, they are survivors of a mass extinction that erased ancient species that were even larger. For nearly 10,000 years, they evolved alongside Native people who weaved them into every aspect of daily life; relied on them for food, clothing, and shelter; and revered them as equals.

Newcomers to the continent found the buffalo fascinating at first, but in time they came to consider them a hindrance to a young nation’s expansion. And in the space of only a decade, they were slaughtered by the millions for their hides, with their carcasses left to rot on the prairies. Then, teetering on the brink of disappearing from the face of the earth, they would be rescued by a motley collection of Americans, each of them driven by different—and sometimes competing—impulses. This is the rich and complicated story of a young republic's heedless rush to conquer a continent, but also of the dawn of the conservation era—a story of America at its very best and worst.
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Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo

Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo

by Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo

Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo

by Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns

Hardcover

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Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Some names just make you pay attention to a book, and Ken Burns is one such name. Accompanying a two-part documentary about the same topic, this is an exhaustive look at the natural history of the American Buffalo population featuring gorgeous photos and illustrations to pair with Burns’ natural gift for writing narrative nonfiction.

The epic story of the buffalo in America, from prehistoric times to today—a moving and beautifully illustrated work of natural history inspired by the PBS series "American Buffalo"

The American buffalo—our nation’s official mammal—is an improbable, shaggy beast that has found itself at the center of many of our most mythic and sometimes heartbreaking tales. The largest land animals in the Western Hemisphere, they are survivors of a mass extinction that erased ancient species that were even larger. For nearly 10,000 years, they evolved alongside Native people who weaved them into every aspect of daily life; relied on them for food, clothing, and shelter; and revered them as equals.

Newcomers to the continent found the buffalo fascinating at first, but in time they came to consider them a hindrance to a young nation’s expansion. And in the space of only a decade, they were slaughtered by the millions for their hides, with their carcasses left to rot on the prairies. Then, teetering on the brink of disappearing from the face of the earth, they would be rescued by a motley collection of Americans, each of them driven by different—and sometimes competing—impulses. This is the rich and complicated story of a young republic's heedless rush to conquer a continent, but also of the dawn of the conservation era—a story of America at its very best and worst.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780593537343
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date: 10/10/2023
Pages: 352
Sales rank: 15,877
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

About The Author
DAYTON DUNCAN is the author of thirteen other books, including Out West: An American Journey Along the Lewis and Clark Trail. He has worked with Ken Burns as a writer and producer of documentary films for more than thirty years and has won numerous awards, including two Emmy Awards for his work on The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. He lives in Rindge, New Hampshire, and Savannah, Georgia.

KEN BURNS, the producer and director of numerous film series, including Vietnam, The Roosevelts, and The War, founded his own documentary film company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His landmark film The Civil War was the highest-rated series in the history of American public television, and his work has won numerous prizes, including the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and two Academy Award nominations. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire.
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