Wide Open

Annick Smith is the author of several books, most recently In This We Are Native: On Going Away and Coming Home and Homestead. She is coeditor of the Montana anthology The Last Best Place and an award-winning story writer.  Susan O'Connor, a philanthropist and arts advocate, is on the board of the American Prairie Foundation and is involved with other literary, environmental, and social justice nonprofit organizations. She lives in Missoula, Montana. Contributors: Rick Bass, Mary Clearman Blew, Judy Blunt, Lois Conner, David James Duncan, Gretel Ehrlich, Dan Flores, Richard Ford, Lee Friedlander, James Galvin, Ian Glennie, Jim Harrison, Richard Hugo, Fredericka Hunter, Geoffrey James, William Kittredge, Barry Lopez, Richard Manning, Peter Matthiessen, Thomas McGuane, Susan O'Connor, Annick Smith, M. L. Smoker, Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, and James Welch.

• Preface     Stephenie Ambrose TubbsAcknowledgments   Introduction      Notes on the Photographs      Ian Glennie Part 1: Home on the RangeMary Clearman BlewBecoming    Judy BluntEvolution   James WelchExcerpt from The Death of Jim Loney James GalvinNo Bastion  Thomas McGuaneA Foal      M. L. SmokerGrandfather Poem  Letter to Richard Hugo (1)    Birthright  Crosscurrent      Jim HarrisonTo a Meadowlark    Lee FriedlanderPortfolio 1  Part 2: Hunting and GatheringBarry LopezThe Bear in the Road    Rick BassBird Hunter David James DuncanFour Excerpts from the Novella "What the Prairie Has To Say about Fly Fishing"      William KittredgeFar Point   Gretel EhrlichA Summer Journal   Lois ConnerPortfolio 2  Part 3: Travels across the PlainsJim HarrisonDon't Fence Me In Annick SmithExcerpt from "Crossing the Plains with Bruno"   Richard FordEmpire       Geoffrey JamesPortfolio 3  Part 4: Natural HistoryDan FloresAn Entire Heaven and an Entire Earth      Peter MatthiessenExcerpt from "Plains, Prairies, and the Shining Mountains"  Richard ManningInstructions from a Misanthrope's Paradise      Richard HugoDriving Montana   Distances   High Grass Prairie      Bear Paw     Source Acknowledgments  Contributors

"From the pens of writers such as Judy Blunt, Rick Bass, Thomas McGuane, Barry Lopez, Richard Ford, Gretel Ehrlich, Peter Matthiesen, Richard Hugo, and James Galvin and through the stark lenses of photographers Lee Friedlander, Lois Conner, and Geoffrey James, we deeply inhabit the American prairie, a seemingly immutable place of hard-scrabble ranches, rivers, bears, birds, and wolves—a land so patiently alive we might miss it."—Maurice Manning, Bookforum "Smith and O'Connor have done an excellent job in putting this collection together. In the end they have in fact presented a literate portrait of the prairie and the animals and folks who cooperatively attempt to make it home."—Pete Warzel, Montana Quarterly "A superb evocation of the prairie and its life."—ForeWord Magazine "Using photographs, fiction, and nonfiction, the editors have skillfully assembled a complex portrayal of the West's high, dry, and cold plains into a beautiful book."—Orion "The Wide Open is a beautiful memoir of the short-grass prairie of the northern Great Plains, which has channeled its voice through the writers and photographers found within the book."—Tom Wylie, Bloomsbury Review "Annick Smith, an accomplished writer, and Susan O'Connor, philanthropist and arts advocate, have done an exceptional job compiling an essential anthology that celebrates the voice and spirit of the prairie. Anthologies can be hit or miss—this collection of poetry, prose, and photographs is right on the mark."—Jim Reese, Great Plains Quarterly