Saving Arcadia is a wonderful book about an epic effort to preserve a large area of pristine dunes on Lake Michigan and highly productive adjoining farm land. The way in which a couple tiny communities came together over a period of years, raising funds at suppers and bake sales and joining with visionary philanthropists in a dramatic race against commercial development is told in this riveting account. As the drama unfolded, at times the race seemed lost, only to be rescued in a ‘Perils of Pauline’ fashion by long hours of work, passionate presentation, by seeming miracle or sheer luck. Heather Shumaker’s love affair with Arcadia and the people of the region suffuses each page and produces a compelling story, often heart-stopping and always heartwarming. Saving Arcadia is a beautifully told tale, full of hope for our future.
~Carl Levin
A heartwarming story of hope and preservation that will inspire all communities to follow their heart in preserving those places that mean so much! Heather Shumaker brings a fresh new voice to the importance of conservation. For those who were part of the journey, you’ll cherish this memoir of our experience; and for those who are new to this amazing conservation accomplishment, I encourage you to sit down with this great read, for you’ll be inspired to never give up and to pursue what is most important to you.
~Helen Taylor, Michigan State Director, the Nature Conservancy
Stories like this give hope to every human working to create a healthy and livable future.
~anonymous Americorps volunteer
[. . .] here’s a story about action at the local level that made a difference.
~Howard Lovy
This work of creative nonfiction may be among the year’s best pieces of environmental drama so far. Following the journey of a local nonprofit as it fights to save a unique dune ecosystem, it features both true-to-life recounting of real events and dramatic creative license that rivals anything in fiction.
~Anna Call
Saving Arcadia details the many challenges inherent in [the effort to protect Arcadia Dunes] and the wonderful story of how these challenges were overcome by the hard work and dedication of many.
~Art Bukowski
Many readers will identify with the deep feelings stirred up by changes threatening geographic areas of personal significance, and be inspired by Shumaker’s chronicle. Formidably and accessibly tackling a very complex story, this will appeal to people who love wild places, and want to see them preserved.
~Joan Curbow
What better, in the 'no place of cyberspace,' to discover than Heather Shumaker's nonfiction account of land reclamation and preservation. Saving Arcadia did for me what reading John Muir, Wendell Berry, and Annie Dillard always does: It buoyed my spirits, and made me want to plant a copy of this wonderful book in the hands of every reader I know.
~Jack Driscoll, Author of The Goat Fish and the Lover's Knot (Wayne State University Press, 2017)
This is a book of national significance. It is a story of a monumental accomplishment in conservation, but it's much more than that. Heather Shumaker's graceful prose and storytelling skill make it entertaining, unforgettable reading. Saving Arcadia makes you care about individual people, a great place, and a rich legacy for our descendants.
~Dave Dempsey, Co-Author of The Great Lake Sturgeon (2014 Michigan Notable Book Award Winner)
Having visited these remarkable dunes, I'm all the more taken by the exciting story of their conservation. On a troubled planet, it is stories like this that provide deep and abiding hope. This is a lovely book.
~Bill McKibben, Author of Deep Economy
In a world where so often Goliath wins, Heather Shumaker tells a David and Goliath tale that will startle, frighten, and delight you in both its threat and its humanity. At stake? The stunning tract of land known as the Arcadia Dunes, including its miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, forests, open land, orchards, and rare flora and fauna. Heather Shumaker takes us on a dune ride of astonishing tension to resolution that is both hopeful and real. The writing is clean and the story utterly absorbing.
~Anne-Marie Oomen, Author of Love, Sex and 4-H (Wayne State University Press, 2015), Winner of the Next Generation Indie Award (In the Category of Memoir)
Saving Arcadia is the untold chronicle of thousands of people committing thousands of selfless acts, backlit by the sweep of dune, the rush of blue water. Saving Arcadia is an essential portrait of the most rewarding work there is: saving the land we love and telling its story even as the land changes us. This history of one of our most beautiful and quintessential places will sit alongside Roger Tory Peterson and Sand County Almanac and should be read by their enthusiasts as well as businesspeople and others working to create social and environmental change. By saving Arcadia, a way of life is preserved, too.
~Doug Stanton, New York Times Bestselling Author and Co-Founder of the National Writers Series in Traverse City
Heather Shumaker tells the story of the saving of Arcadia Dunes with passion and clarity and with the authority of one who was there from the beginning. I highly recommend this book to everyone who cares not just about the Great Lakes and their freshwater dunes but about the importance of preserving land and water for the well-being of all living things.
~Jerry Dennis, Author of The Living Great Lakes
