Award-winning nature books worth checking out:

Halcyon Journey, In Search of the Belted Kingfisher by Marina Richie, 2022, Oregon State University Press, 246 pages.

Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America by Dan Flores, 2022, WW Norton and Company, 398 pages.

Award-Winning Nature Books

These two books about people and fauna exist at far ends of a continuum. At one end we find Richie’s passion for Kingfishers and her dogged focus on the species she loves, winner of the National Outdoor Book Awards and the John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing.

At the other end, stands Flores’ epic coverage of eons of history. This story begins before the period of the fifth great extinction and casts a wide net through time and history to bring the reader to an understanding of the fifth great extinction. Wild New World won the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award and the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History-Literature.

Marina Richie's Award-Winner

The Kingfisher, in Greek mythology, is the halcyon—a bird with magical powers said to calm the seas when nesting. Richie embarks on her personal Halcyon Journey, driven by her passion to find and observe a nesting pair of kingfishers. Her quest begins with the challenge of locating the nest. We join Richie, morning after chilly morning, as she explores a creek near her Montana home.

Her narrative weaves scientific studies and personal stories that often volley between her son and the influences of her naturalist father. The cold mornings eventually pay off when she discovers the birds’ nesting hole in the side of a cutbank, where she sets up a blind and hunkers down. Richie’s pursuit soon expands beyond her local creek, leading her on adventures to distant continents to learn more about these legendary birds.

Riche’s personal quest winds through culture, family bonds and her understanding of her place in the matrix of life. Her Kingfishers are the thing she tugs on to find she is connected to everything else in the world.

Dan Flores' Award-Winner

Flores calls his approach in Wild New World “Big History” which, he writes, “has advantages over conventional history. It can acknowledge that the destiny of a continent like North America lies not just with us but also with our fellow creatures and the longer evolutionary stream in which we all live.” Humans emerge as a new species entering North America. This big history is ours.

These carnivorous hunters, foragers, and cultivators’ success came at a steep cost to other species. Flores examines the decline and some recoveries of wildlife. The same species who mucks up so much, also works wonders to undo a bit of the damage by respecting and acting for natural systems.

With a captivating narrative bolstered by genomic science, evolutionary biology, and environmental history, Flores offers a sweeping yet personal history of the complex relationship between humans and animals in America.  Humans can be a force for good.

Both authors offer an engaging journey that wanders directly and personally into the matrix of systems and species that sustain us.

Amy Lou Jenkins’ books include Every Natural Fact and Friends.If you have a book for possible review, contact her through JackWalkerPress.com.

A version of these reviews were previously published in a Sierra Club publication.