A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California

A State of Change reconstructs California's historic landscapes through art, research, and documentation. The book combines Cunningham's naturalist paintings and sketches with archival records, Indigenous knowledge, and scientific data to visualize California's environments before European settlement. Through field observations and studies of remaining wild spaces, Cunningham pieces together images of California's past ecosystems - from coastal prairies to Central Valley grasslands to Sierra Nevada forests. Her work spans multiple time periods, showing landscape transformations across centuries and millennia. This documentation of lost California landscapes raises questions about human impacts on the natural world and possibilities for ecological restoration. The intersection of art and science creates a window into environmental change while exploring how knowledge of the past can inform conservation efforts.

Readers appreciate Cunningham's detailed illustrations and research reconstructing California's historical landscapes. Multiple reviews mention the value of seeing pre-colonial California environments through her paintings and sketches. Readers liked: - Integration of Native American accounts with scientific data - Side-by-side comparisons of past and present landscapes - Technical accuracy combined with artistic skill - Focus on specific locations readers can visit today Readers disliked: - Some found the writing style dry and academic - Price point ($50+ for hardcover) - Limited coverage of Southern California regions Ratings: Goodreads: 4.31/5 (32 ratings) Amazon: 4.7/5 (24 ratings) One reader noted: "The paintings make you feel like you're looking through a window into the past." Another mentioned: "This deserves a place alongside other California natural history classics." Some criticisms focused on wanting more narrative structure, with one review stating: "The text reads more like a scientific paper than a book for general audiences."

Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson. This examination of California's indigenous peoples reveals how they shaped and maintained natural landscapes through traditional practices.

The West Without Water by B. Lynn Ingram and Frances Malamud-Roam. The authors use geological and climate records to reconstruct California's environmental history over two millennia.

California's Wild Gardens by Greg Rubin and Lucy Warren. The book documents California's native plant communities and their historical distributions through research and photographs.

The King of California by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman. This history traces the transformation of California's Central Valley from marshland to agricultural empire through one family's story.

Rivers of Empire by Donald Worster. The text explores how water management and irrigation transformed the American West from desert to agricultural powerhouse.

🌿 Laura Cunningham spent over 20 years researching California's historical ecology, creating detailed sketches and paintings based on archaeological evidence, historical accounts, and scientific data. 🦬 The book features reconstructions of extinct California megafauna, including prehistoric camels, mammoths, and giant ground sloths that roamed the region until about 10,000 years ago. 🎨 Each illustration in the book combines art and science, with Cunningham referencing paleontological specimens, indigenous knowledge, and early European explorer accounts to create accurate depictions of past landscapes. 🌳 The author studied living relatives of extinct species in modern locations (like bison in Yellowstone) to better understand and accurately portray the movements and behaviors of California's lost animals. 🗺️ The book reveals that the "pristine wilderness" first encountered by European settlers was actually a landscape carefully managed by Native Americans through controlled burning and other practices for thousands of years.