Description

---

In Roots and Resilience, the authors invite readers to consider an intimate relationship with the California landscape and its history. Ranching in the region goes back centuries, and many of these essayists have long family lineages in the area, while other contributors are newer to the region. Through their authentic voices, these writers provide a lens through which we can better understand the language of this landscape.

The editors have drawn together these stories, poems, and musings from ranchers across the state, calling upon real people to share their experiences, and beckoning readers to find a shared understanding concerning often divisive land-use topics. Many perspectives are considered, including those of transplanted suburbanites to seventh-generation heirs. Notably, many women’s writings are including in the book, offering unique and valuable perspectives on ranching culture.

Roots and Resilience gives voice to California’s Indigenous, Mexican American, Basque and other European American ranchers, asking the reader to find common ground in the name of land stewardship and conservation.
 

About the Author

---

Susan Edinger Marshall is an emeritus professor of rangeland resources and wildland soils at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Marshall earned a BS in environmental science, an MS in range management at the University of Arizona, and a PhD in soil science at the University of California, Riverside.

Praise For…

---

“While profiles of ranching families appear elsewhere, none are quite like Roots and Resilience. These essays are written by the ranch families themselves, giving readers a unique and authentic perspective of today’s ranching environment. Their stories capture the book’s title impeccably—a culture that dates back hundreds of years in the New World yet thrives due to the resilience of these remarkable Americans.”
—Richard Knight, professor emeritus, Colorado State University, editor of Conservation for a New Generation