WELCOME HOME, BUFFALO

A chronicle of the wanton destruction of North America’s bison population and recent efforts to restore it to surviving vestiges of its original range.

Anderson, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, joins Markle to provide an Indigenous perspective on the “Great Slaughter” and its devastating effects both on Native cultures and on the entire continent’s prairie ecosystem. The authors demonstrate how the killings were a part of a larger genocidal history in which smallpox outbreaks, forced relocation to reservations, and the establishment of Indian boarding schools also played roles. Much of the rather relentless tally of multiple early bison conservation efforts both in the U.S. and Canada that have continued and are still under way may lose readers, but some examples do stand out enough to be memorable—such as the 45,000 head that now roam late media mogul Ted Turner’s properties, and the claim that herds have been restored to over a million acres of tribal lands. It sounds like a success story, and in at least some ways it is. Large period or modern photos on every page provide their shaggy subjects with plenty of visual exposure, and a generous list of books and documentary videos at the end supplies more. Along with personal notes from the authors, the back matter also includes an Anishinaabe folktale explaining how the buffalo got its hump.

Broad, illuminating, and overall upbeat.