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  • Published: 30 November 2021
  • ISBN: 9781101984697
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $55.00

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Likes to Walk Outside




Nick Offerman has always loved the United States of America--not just the people and the history, but the actual land itself. In his new book, Nick takes a humorous, inspiring, and fascinating trip to America's frontier to celebrate the people, landscape, and stories, both historically and today, that have made it great--and, working together, will keep it that way.

In July 2019, Nick took two memorable trips with friends--a hiking trip to Glacier National Park with his friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders, as well as an extended visit to his friend James Rebanks, the author of A SHEPHERD'S LIFE. He followed that up with a trip that could have only happened in 2020--Nick and his wife, Megan Mullally, bought an Airstream trailer to drive across the US in late 2020. All three journeys inspired some deep thinking from Nick, thoughts about the history and geology of the national parks of the West; farming, animal life, and conservation; the importance of outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing; and building both local and national communities across party lines, all subjects very close to Nick's heart.

With wit, heartwarming stories, and a keen insight into new and exciting ways to see both the past and the future of the country, Nick Offerman is ready to tackle his most important subject yet.

A humorous and rousing set of literal and figurative sojourns as well as a mission statement about comprehending, protecting, and truly experiencing the outdoors, fueled by three journeys undertaken by actor, humorist, and New York Times bestselling author Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman has always felt a particular affection for the Land of the Free—not just for the people and their purported ideals but to the actual land itself: the bedrock, the topsoil, and everything in between that generates the health of your local watershed. In his new book, Nick takes a humorous, inspiring, and elucidating trip to America's trails, farms, and frontier to examine the people who inhabit the land, what that has meant to them and us, and to the land itself, both historically and currently.  

In 2018, Wendell Berry posed a question to Nick, a query that planted the seed of this book, sending Nick on two memorable journeys with pals—a hiking trip to Glacier National Park with his friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders, as well as an extended visit to his friend James Rebanks, the author of The Shepherd's Life and English Pastoral. He followed that up with an excursion that could only have come about in 2020—Nick and his wife, Megan Mullally, bought an Airstream trailer to drive across (several of) the United States. These three quests inspired some “deep-ish" thinking from Nick, about the history and philosophy of our relationship with nature in our national parks, in our farming, and in our backyards; what we mean when we talk about conservation; and the importance of outdoor recreation, all subjects very close to Nick's heart. 

With witty, heartwarming stories and a keen insight into the human problems we all confront, this is both a ramble through and celebration of the land we all love.

  • Published: 30 November 2021
  • ISBN: 9781101984697
  • Imprint: Dutton
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $55.00

About the author

Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman is the New York Times bestselling author of Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living, Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers, and Good Clean Fun: Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop, as well as co-author of The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, with his wife, Megan Mullally. Nick and Megan live in Los Angeles, California, with their pups and an impressive collection of assorted wood clamps.

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