A State of Change - by Laura Cunningham (Hardcover)

About the Book

"An exploration of California's flora and fauna before European contact, featuring landscape paintings by the author"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A magnificently illustrated classic of California natural history, now updated in a long-awaited reissue.

"This wonderful book is a vivid reminder of how things began, and also as a vision of the rich and beautiful world we can work toward in our shared future." --Kim Stanley Robinson

"This brings a lost world straight back to life--and one hopes it will help us work to restore it in the real world." --Bill McKibben

"I wouldn't be the artist-author I am today without A State of Change. I consider Cunningham's work to be an original inspiration for all that I do." --Obi Kaufmann

Travel through deep time to pre-colonial California, and see the world as it was when nature reigned and Native American stewardship shaped the land and its abundant life. A State of Change, reissued in this highly anticipated updated edition, transports us to centuries past, offering a vision of the American West outside the grasp of modern memory. Widely regarded as a classic, this magnum opus from artist and naturalist Laura Cunningham melds lyrical observation and scientific literature to trace the evolution of these superlatively biodiverse landscapes, depicting a world untrammeled by industrial technology, habitat disruption, and non-native species. Including masterful illustrations throughout, Cunningham envisions grizzlies foraging under oak trees, American cheetahs hunting pronghorns, and herds of elk grazing coastal prairies. This fully redesigned edition features new material on the reintroduction of wolves to California, the latest issues in grassland conservation, and traditional Indigenous uses of fire on the land. A State of Change will stun the imagination with glimpses of what has been lost--and give hope for what can be restored.

Review Quotes

California Book Award Winner

Northern California Book Award Winner

Foreword Book of the Year Finalist

Praise for A State of Change:

"This wonderful book is a vivid reminder of how things began, and also as a vision of the rich and beautiful world we can work toward in our shared future. One of Heyday's best." --Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future and The High Sierra: A Love Story

"I wouldn't be the artist-author I am today without A State of Change. I consider Cunningham's work to be an original inspiration for all that I do." --Obi Kaufmann, author of The California Field Atlas and California Inside Out

"This brings a lost world straight back to life--and one hopes it will help us work to restore it in the real world." --Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

"Laura Cunningham's artistic and ecological archive shows California's landscape (like every landscape) has always been in flux, and will adapt, even if humans don't. A gorgeous book with much broader implications than for one state, for one country: Cunningham reminds us how we define our landscapes--and how they define us." --Kerri Arsenault, author of Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains

"When I was in high school, my teacher brought our class to the top of Twin Peaks in San Francisco and read the opening chapter of The Ohlone Way. As the wind blew around us, we re-envisioned the landscape below us. This experience has stuck with me to this day. The research and rich painting of A State of Change takes me even further. This book is a time machine that takes me on a journey into a land that I thought I knew. Now, as I explore, I cannot unsee Laura's paintings. They are like an overlay in my head, helping me see a familiar landscape with a new lens. As an artist, naturalist, and armchair time traveler, I appreciate this kind of depth and genius." --John Muir Laws, author of The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling

"In A State of Change, Laura Cunningham shows that landscapes are not static backdrops but evolving systems shaped by deep time, Indigenous stewardship, and modern disruption. Her combination of field science, historical reconstruction, and richly detailed paintings makes this book an indispensable guide for anyone seeking to understand the ecological story of the Golden State." --Josh Jackson, author of The Enduring Wild

"Beautiful and enlightening . . . a California classic." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Skillful, evocative, and often stunning." --SFGate

"A tantalizing, informative, inspiring glimpse into something we all try to imagine: California before all of this." --Robin M. Grossinger, San Francisco Estuary Institute

"A State of Change taught me how to look at the landscape around me with different eyes. Thanks to Laura Cunningham's brilliant interweaving of science and art, I can now imagine what California looked like before colonization. Her vision not only informs how we understand the past, but also what a better future could look like." --Liam O'Donoghue, host of East Bay Yesterday

About the Author

Laura Cunningham is an artist-naturalist who studied paleontology and biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked field biology jobs for the California Department of Fish and Game, the United States Geological Survey, and various universities, gaining experience with such species as Owens Valley pupfish, salmon and steelhead trout, Yosemite toads, Panamint alligator lizards, and tule elk. Simultaneously, she taught herself the arts of sketching and oil painting and pursued studies of California's historical ecology. She currently works in the conservation nonprofit field. Her studio is next to Death Valley National Park along the Amargosa River.