I learned a lot reading this book - about national monuments and about tensions which arise when dealing with them! I liked the wide variety of experts consulted to add depth to this book. The essays going with each monument varied widely in quality and tone though, I wish there had been a clearer theme throughout the book.

This book was very well researched and well done. When I finished with it I really felt like I had learned a lot and done a big deep dive into a topic that previously I had known little about. I also feel like she does a good job at writing with authority -- I never questioned that she knew what she was talking about.

Very informative. McKenzie Long has such a good voice and her storytelling ability is amazing. You can tell that she researched each monument, the history behind it, and its significance.

This Contested Land is a book about National Monuments and the dilemmas that arise when decided what land should be protected. The author visits numerous national monuments and examines all the different viewspoints of who should manage and have access or rights to those lands. She comes with viewpoints from recreational users, mining rights, indiginous people, ranchers, and more. I appreciated her personal touches and how the land impacted her as well. If you enjoy public lands or have a passion for them, I encourage you to pick this one up! It's a great non-fiction read.

Thank you to the University of Minnesota Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy of This Contested Land. All opinions are my own.

Anecdotal, informational, and a bit comedic, McKenzie Long brings a unique voice to the fraught and contested history of national monuments. Through interviews with scientists, historians, government employees, local residents and indigenous peoples, Long gives voice to multiple views and explores the ecological and historical impact monuments have had on the land and people. An educational and interesting read.

This book explores how people in America relate to public lands, how we use them and abuse them, and how various National Monuments have affected that use. McKenzie does a fantastic job of capturing the beauty she sees in these parks and monuments, the way she conjured images of such different landscapes with such detail and love for me was amazing.

I found it so impressive and impactful that she was able to really look at these monument issues from both sides. That is something that is so hard for me to do, I often mistake my own opinions for facts, and this forced me to look at that differently. Her willingness to really listen to people who use and relate to the land and government differently made this book so much more interesting and valuable, and I respect and appreciate her dedication to exploring different viewpoints in a respectful way.

The only thing that really detracted from my enjoyment of this book was the structure. McKenzie shares a personal anecdote for each monument discussed, along with the history and facts relating to the monument's status and other uses. In some cases, these two elements of discussion blended together well but in almost half of the chapters, the two felt so disjointed I mistook it for an editing error at first. One paragraph about water rafting would jump to a paragraph about legislation and then the next would pick up with the rafting exactly where we left off. It was like channel surfing and not in a good way. I think if the two narrative tracks aren’t able to blend they should not be forced to mesh like this, just tell your story and then talk about the politics after.

Overall, this was informative, enjoyable, and engaging. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, U of Minnesota Press, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review!!

McKenzie Long has written a very interesting book about national monuments with "This Contested Land." National monuments are kind of the little sisters to National Parks and don't get nearly the attention and fanfare that parks do.

I really enjoyed the early chapters about the history of monuments and the Antiquities Act. There was a ton of good information in there that I did not know about previously. I felt this was one of the strongest sections of the book.

Long then delves into 13 specific monuments and highlights how they came about, challenges they are facing, and a personal story about how she has experienced the monument. I really loved the personal narratives, which are interspersed with history and information about the monument. This style was at times a little choppy and I felt some of the transitions could have been better. I also felt Long got a bit preachy at times. Neither of these things detracted much from my enjoyment of the book, but are just things that could have been slightly improved.

Overall, I think this is a great book to read if you have an interest in public lands. I liked that there were many different perspectives taken into account. I also like how Native concerns were continually brought up as these are still being pushed aside and stepped on in favor of white peoples' claims to the land.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This Uncontested Land is a deeply informative book. McKenzie Long dives deep into the histories and controversies of thirteen different national monuments that came under challenge from the Trump administration, and through exploring the particulars of each of these thirteen monuments she gives the reader a thorough understanding of the complexities of public land management. Long visited each of these monuments and spoke to a wide variety of people (supporters of the monuments and opponents), and reading about her experiences and the conversations she had helped bring those places alive for me. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in the outdoors or conservation (or the politics around conservation).

Thank you to NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press for the opportunity to read this amazing book!

I really enjoyed This Contested Land. McKenzie Long provides us with so much information about America's national monuments, both on the system as a whole and on the individual monuments themselves. The thirteen she features here allow her to tell really interesting stories about what these parks mean for the people who know, love, and hate them. I found myself wanting to visit each one thanks to Long's compelling descriptions, and I know that when I visit, I will appreciate them more because these will never be just places on a map again.

I will say that Long's use of biographical material was not nearly as interesting as the stories she told about the monuments themselves. Likely this material was introduced with a desire for readers to better connect with the stories she's telling about the monuments, but I didn't think it was needed and sometimes felt like a distraction.

Even so, I will definitely be recommending This Contested Land to any friends and readers who love the outdoors.

Thank you to the University of Minnesota Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy of This Contested Land. All opinions are my own.

From the introduction, I learned the general history of the creation of monuments in the country and how the process is different from the creation of national parks, which was very interesting. Most of the monuments covered are in the southwest, an area I haven’t visited, so while the book gave me an opportunity to read about unfamiliar areas, I also didn’t feel a personal connection to them.

Each chapter looks at a particular monument and its history, along with an environmental issue such as chemical, noise, or light pollution, nuclear waste, multi-use and overuse, local vs national interests, etc. Also mixed in are the author’s personal experiences at each location. It’s an interesting approach, but I felt it often made each chapter a little too busy as it switched between subjects.

Thanks to University of Minnesota Press and NetGalley for the advance copy to review.

This was a phenomenal book. Each chapter stood on its own but the themes arched across all of them. Most of the final sentences in each chapter were so impactful. I love when a sentence stops me on my tracks. You could definitely tell what beliefs the author had but she reported fairly and compassionately. It is rare for an author to have the reader see, if not empathize with both sides of an argument. I will definitely be recommending this book