The great basin : a natural prehistory /

The Great Basin of the western US can be defined in several different ways, but all show an overlap in Nevada and parts of California and Arizona. It is an extraordinary, diverse landscape that shows its deep prehistory with the distribution of geomorphic features, vegetation, and animal species. This book, a revision of The Desert's Past (CH, Mar'94, 31-3772), covers the last 25,000 years of natural history in the Great Basin. There are six parts to the volume and 10 chapters, all designed to be read independently (so there is some necessary repetition). The first half of the book concentrates on the Ice Age Great Basin with its pluvial lakes and shifting biomes. The second half essentially shows how that Pleistocene Great Basin is still evident and has shaped the history of its last 10,000 years. Grayson (Univ. of Washington) is an archaeologist, so some of the most detailed parts of the text are about the peopling of the Great Basin. Each chapter is well supported by photographs, maps, and tables, along with detailed chapter notes and extensive references. A complete index makes finding topics easy. A useful acquisition for any library with historical and/or natural history collections. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. A. Wilson College of Wooster