From the author of Apocalyptic Planet comes a vivid travelogue through prehistory, that traces the arrival of the first people in North America at least twenty thousand years ago and the artifacts that tell of their lives and fates.
CRAIG CHILDS is the author of Apocalyptic Planet. He has been a regular commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Men's Journal, Outside, The Sun, and Orion Magazine. Awards he has received include the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, the Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure, the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, and, for his body of work, the 2003 Spirit of the West Award.
“It’s a clever, smartly written and altogether enthusiastic effort
to breathe feeling and life into the human processes behind all
those ancient sites, artifacts, and busted animal bones. The past
is a country to which one cannot return, but “Atlas of a Lost
World” at least helps you imagine what you might be missing.” —The
Wall Street Journal
“A wonderful and adventurous book.” —Aspen Daily News
“Whenever I read Craig Childs I feel as if I am in the presence a
passionate tour guide to exotic places, rare artifacts, and ancient
bones. Childs’ Atlas of a Lost World is a transcontinental
detective story about the arrival of humans in North America. About
20,000 years ago climates changed, humans spread across the globe,
and a new era began for life in North America. Childs’
first-hand encounters and vivid prose make his telling of these
pivotal events read more like a thriller than a stale account of
dusty artifacts.” —Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish
“A useful and transporting tour d'horizon of the prehistoric
Americas….Throughout the text, Childs projects a high degree of
infectious fascination, pulling readers into his prehistoric
scenes. Readers will be impressed by his hardiness as he attempts
to experience what an ancient traveler may have experienced…. A
tight weave of professional findings, anecdotes, site visits, and
explanations behind ancient artifacts make this book both engaging
and indispensable for those with an interest in prehistory.”—Kirkus
*starred review*
“In this captivating travelogue, Childs trods the late Ice Age with
the first migrants to the Americas—adventurous and canny explorers
who traveled amid disappearing glaciers and ‘a cycle of animals of
all sizes from voles and falcons to some of the largest mammals
seen in human evolution.’…With simple, beautiful sketches by fellow
traveler Gilman, Childs’s account will fire the imagination of
ordinary readers as well as anthropologists and
prehistorians.”—Publishers Weekly *starred review*
“Childs takes readers on a scintillating dual journey through the
geography of modern and Ice Age America in this survey of some of
the lands reached by the first voyagers across the Bering Sea Ice
Bridge…. While exploring the American West and ultimately embarking
on a trip in a north Florida swamp, Childs maintains a
self-deprecating humor and a boundless enthusiasm for his subject
that makes this narrative an unexpected page-turner. His curiosity
is infectious, and the lessons he learns about how Ice Age people
lived, what we can learn from them, and who they became resonate
with serious staying power…. Childs has found history deeper than
politics, and in rich, evocative prose, he makes it startlingly
relevant to readers. A science title with broad and enduring
appeal.” —Booklist Online *starred review*
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