A 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards Semifinalist: Best Science & Technology
“Kenyon’s writing and traveling style are equally companionable…he evokes in his prose an appealing sense of shared experience…a strong argument for why two often politically opposed factions, hunters and environmentalists, should come together under the #KeepItPublic banner…succeeds in making the political simultaneously personal and universal.” —Publishers Weekly
“An intimate escape for adventure seekers.” —Seattle PI
“When friends complain to me about the ideological divisions ripping America in two, I cheer them up with stories about our public lands. Right now, groups and individuals as diverse as the nation itself are coalescing around the rallying cry of ‘Keep It Public’ as we fight to defend the environmental integrity and accessibility of our public lands. Let Mark Kenyon’s That Wild Country be our guiding text. Not only does Kenyon tell you why and how we have public lands, but he also tells you why and how we’ll keep them. Read this book and join the movement.” —Steven Rinella, bestselling author of The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook and American Buffalo
“This is a must-read for all public-land owners. Mark weaves his own adventures and connections to public land into the history on how we were gifted this great legacy. Read this book, be inspired, and become engaged.” —Land Tawney, president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
“More than a century ago John Muir warned that ‘Wilderness is a necessity…They will see what I meant in time.’ For better or worse we have arrived in the cultural moment that the wandering Scotsman foresaw, when the landscapes that are most vital to the survival of America’s soul are also the most jeopardized. Thoroughly immersed in said moment, with pure heart and true aim, Mark Kenyon has written an engrossing walkabout of his own that pairs an impassioned, unquenchable desire for wild country with a rare, marksman-cool ability to articulate the complex issues and stakes in our fight for public lands. A wonderful debut.” —Chris Dombrowski, author of Body of Water
“America’s public lands are under assault, from chronic underfunding, development interests, invasive species, and climate change, among other threats. Against this backdrop, Mark Kenyon eloquently explores how many of these public lands came to be, and why they are more important today than ever. That Wild Country is more than a lesson; it is a personal journey of discovery to which all public-lands users, from hikers and boaters to hunters and anglers, can relate.” —Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
