Living Ozarks: The Ecology and Culture of a Natural Place

Lavishly illustrated, Living Ozarks: The Ecology and Culture of a Natural Place brings together essays, journal articles, book excerpts, and art/photo albums, all themed around the region’s heritage of nature and culture intertwined. Featured among the artwork are botanical drawings of S. Fred Prince, arguably the Ozarks’ first scientific illustrator; the outsider art of S. W. Mannon, one of the last Shepherd of the Hills pioneers (whose cabin is now an attraction at Silver Dollar City theme park); and internationally renowned photographer Jacek Fraczak. Readers familiar with the Ozarks’ tradition of nature writing will recognize many of the names anthologized, including Leonard Hall, Milton Rafferty, Robert Flanders, Werner O. Nagel, Robert K. Gilmore, and Dan Saults. Section topics include Defining the Ozarks, Eras of the Ozarks, Sustainability in the Ozarks, The Ozarks as Wilderness, and Experiencing the Ozarks. As our national dialogue turns with increasing urgency toward issues of ecology and sustainable practices in business, land- and water-use, and lifestyle, an anthology like Living Ozarks offers important historical-cultural contexts. As MSU President Cliff Smart writes in his foreword, the historical texts and images show where we have come from; the contemporary texts and images give suggestions as to where we’ve arrived and how we might move forward–our collective task being to ensure that the Ozarks remains a place of health, beauty, richness, and wonder for future generations.