From the formation of this "sea of grass" to the settlers who worked the prairie, this history interweaves the natural and human elements that made the grasslands what they are today. Although this terrain has become our greatest hope for survival--miraculously absorbing and transforming pollution into food for the grasses and, eventually, for humans--no ecosystem faces more danger. What can we do to conserve this special landscape? Through copious illustrations and sidebars taken from diaries, letters, folk tales, music, poetry, recollections, interviews, and other writings, follow the relationship between Americans and the "fruited plains": the European immigrants who broke the land with the plow; the Indians who first inhabited the range; the cowboys and cowgirls who loved the open skies; and the lives of modern-day ranchers.