American Desert

Theodore Street is driving toward the ocean, where he plans to walk into the waves and drown himself, but on his way there is killed in a head-on collision. Three days later, at his funeral, he sits up in his coffin, apparently resurrected. The mourners are horrified, and the story makes headlines around the world.

Following a description of the physical and biological characterization of the four North American deserts together with the primary adaptations of plants to environmental stress, the authors go on to present case studies of key species. They provide an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the major patterns of adaptation in desert plants, with one chapter devoted to several important exotic plants that have invaded these deserts. The whole is rounded off with a synthesis of the resource requirements of desert plants and how they may respond to global climate change.

In this superbly rich epic of fact and reflection, Alex Shoumatoff records his quest to capture the vast multiplicity of the American Southwest. From the Biosphere to the Mormons, from the deadly world of narcotraffickers to the secret lives of the covertly Jewish conversos, Shoumatoff explores the many alternative states of being that have staked their claim in the Southwest. Full of profound sympathy and unique insights, Legends of the American Desert takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey into the most complex and myth-laden region of the American landscape and imagination.

Introduction / Lyle Massey and James Nisbet -- Desolate dreams / Joseph Masco -- Air, wind, breath, life : desertification and Will Wilson's AIR (Auto-Immune Response) / Jessica L. Horton -- Notes from bioteknika / Albert Narath -- Troglodyte modernists / Lyle Massey -- Explosive modernism : Hiram Hudson Benedict's Bouldereign and Zabriskie Point at 50 / Edward Dimendberg -- Point Omega/Omega Point : desert In three parts / Stefanie Sobelle -- The desert in fine grain / Emily Eliza Scott -- The desert as black mythology / Bridget R. Cooks -- On the recalcitrance of the desert island, by way of Andrea Zittel's A-Z West / James Nisbet -- Four theses for the coming deserts / Hans Baumann and Karen Pinkus.

First Published in 1977, The Great American Desert presents a comprehensive overview of the life, history, and landscape of the American Southwest. The Great American desert encompasses the finest land, the biggest Canyon, the highest mountains, the driest deserts, the hottest valley, the oldest towns and the richest mines in the country. Its history is ancient and varied- the Aztec and Mayan civilizations, the Pueblo life, the Spanish and their influence, the Indians and the very type of Southwesterners who have taken up residence during the past century. Jon Manchip White, a Welshman, is one of the region's most recent residents. He has lived there for seven years, look stranger and grown to appreciate it with loving familiarity. He has seen beyond the subtle malignancies of civilization-the billboards, fast food places, tourist traps and the average American’s curious horror of the big outdoors. Indeed, he finds in this finely integrated account of the history and topography of a huge area of land signs that at times nature is winning the fight against man. This book ranges far beyond scenic wonders. The author is equally concerned with men who moved across this spectacular landscape, and who inhabit it now; men famous for a strange diversity of achievement-Coronado and D. H. Lawrence, Geronimo and Billy the Kid, as well as the migrants and desert dwellers of today. This fascinating book is a must read for anyone interested in America’s Southwest.