With climate breakdown heating up and desertification looming over the horizon, Obi Kaufmann leads curious adventurers on a voyage into the sage-and-ocher landscapes of the American West’s world-famous desert regions this fall in his revelatory and sumptuously illustrated new volume The Deserts of California: A California Field Atlas. As philosophical as it is geophysical, this journey blends science and art in Kaufmann’s signature style to throw into relief ecological insights greater than either might yield alone. Through expressionistic mapmaking, wildlife renderings, and geographic conservation guides, Kaufmann explores the marvels of and threats to these resilient yet sensitive ecosystems.

Of a piece with his best-selling books The Forests of California (2020) and The Coasts of California (2022), The Deserts of California (October 2023) rounds out Kaufmann’s expansive California Lands Trilogy. Individually and collectively, these volumes set out to transform entrenched colonialist attitudes toward the American West, and transform our concept of nature from a resource for extraction to a shared and cherished inheritance.

Join us in-person or online as we celebrate the release of this new work, the culminating volume in Kaufmann’s California Lands Trilogy. Obi will be joined in conversation by Chris Clarke, co-host of the 90 Miles from Needles podcast, for a conversation around our fragile desert ecosystems and what environmental justice looks like for these arid landscapes, broadcasting live from the Mojave.

Ticket proceeds benefit the Mojave Desert Land Trust. Registrants will receive a 20% discount offer on all volumes within the California Lands Trilogy.

This event is hosted and co-sponsored by Heyday Books and the Mojave Desert Land Trust. It is produced by Wildbound PR.

In-person ticket: $30
Livestream ticket: $15