Deep Dive | America 250
American Environments
February 2026
Eager to learn more about U.S. History and the America 250 celebration? Carefully curated by local historians and academics, these modules (one for each month of the America 250 celebration) will offer a deep dive into various periods of U.S. History. These recommendations are offered as a free and optional resource with a corresponding list of books, podcast episodes, documentaries, and more that explore themes and specific timeframes within the history of our nation.
Please note: These resources are offered as an optional learning opportunity and are not a required part of any America 250 programs. All reading and viewing materials are optional and meant to enrich your personal learning experience. Some topics may be thought-provoking or sensitive, but all have been curated with care and respect. We invite you to engage with what interests you and explore at your own pace as we commemorate our nation's past.
These Deep Dives continue in the month of February with a closer look at the wide variety of environments in the United States of America.
Thank you for joining us!

GENERAL INTEREST BOOKS
- A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There- Aldo Leopold
- The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States - Mark Fiege
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants - Robin Wall Kimmerer
- National Parks: The American Experience - Alfred Runte
- Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park - Connor Knighton
DEEP DIVE
- The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl - Timothy Egan
- Engineering Eden: A Violent Death, a Federal Trial, and the Struggle to Restore Nature in Our National Parks - Jordan Fisher Smith
- Making America's Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands - Adam M. Sowards
- The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America - Douglas Brinkley
- Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West - William Cronon
- The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers - Martin Doyle
- This America Of Ours: Bernard and Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild - Nate Schweber
- Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America - Megan Kate Nelson
- The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise - Michael Grunwald
KIDS & YOUNG ADULTS
- History Comics: The National Parks: Preserving America's Wild Places - Falynn Koch
- The Camping Trip That Changed America - Barb Rosenstock
- Counting Birds: The Idea That Helped Save Our Feathered Friends - Heidi E.Y. Stemple
- If You Spent a Day with Thoreau at Walden Pond - Robert Burleigh
- Hoot - Carl Hiaasen
- All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff - Meghan McCarthy
- Wildheart: The Daring Adventures of John Muir - Julie Bertagna
LITERATURE & NATURE WRITING
- Gloryland - Shelton Johnson
- O! Pioneers - Willa Cather
- Little House on the Prairie -Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -Dee Brown
- Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink
- Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
- Riders of the Purple Sage - Zane Grey
- Centennial - James A. Michener
- Poems of the American West
- Great American Western Stories
- Roughing It - Mark Twain
- Beyond the Mapped Stars - Rosalyn Eves
- Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan
- The Gates of the Alamo - Stephen Harrigan



- Jordan Fisher Smith- Engineering Eden
- Megan Kate Nelson - Saving Yellowstone
- Nate Schweber - This America of Ours
- HawkWatch International
- American History Tellers - Season 6: National Parks
- American History Tellers - Season 18: California Water Wars
- American History Tellers - Season 56: Boston Molasses Disaster


- Conservation and Environment in Utah
- Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West - Sara Dant
- Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place- Terry Tempest Williams
- Environmental History Archives - CCE
- The National Parks: Beyond the Crowds
- History of Air Quality in Utah
- Utah's Water Management: Growing a Populous State in the Desert
- The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey
- Wonders of Sand and Stone: A History of Utah's National Parks and Monuments - Frederick H. Swanson
- The Civilian Conservation Corps in Utah: Remembering Nine Years of Achievement, 1933-1942 - Kenneth W. Baldridge
- With Picks, Shovels, and Hope: The CCC and Its Legacy on the Colorado Plateau - Wayne K. Hinton & Elizabeth A. Green
- Great Salt Lake oral history project