Saguaros

In the Arms of Saguaros pictures how nature's sharpest curves became a symbol of the American West. From the botanical explorers of the nineteenth century to the tourism boosters in our own time, saguaros and their images have fulfilled attention-getting needs and expectations.

Mark Klett has been photographing the deserts of the American West, in particular the beauties of the Sonoran landscape--a desert that sprawls across southern Arizona and northern Mexico. Along with coyotes and tumbleweeds, saguaro cacti are one of the most recognizable (and stereotypical) features of this region. Klett's portraits of these giant desert plants are straightforward and frontal. Klett is known for teasing out the implications of man's presence in the environment: here, vital young saguaros, middle-aged contenders with gunshot wounds and wizened elders are treated as worthy inhabitants. This beautifully produced volume, featuring 40 deluxe tritone images, presents a selection of Klett's most evocative portraits with an essay by acclaimed writer Gregory McNamee.

Introduces visitors to this Sonoran Desert preserve in southern Arizona, where diverse plant and animal communities thrive in a challenging land of little rain and torrid summers. Photos by George H. H. Huey, C. Allan Morgan, Edward McCain, and others.

"A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert provides the most complete collection of Sonoran Desert natural history information ever compiled and is a perfect introduction to this biologically rich desert of North America."--BOOK JACKET.