Book: Great Plains Bison
by Dan O’Brien
Film: Seed Warriors
by Rebekka Schlichting (Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska)
What can we learn from the stories of bison and the Pawnee seed keepers? How can conservation be practiced today?
Enjoy this book club kit inspired by Ken Burns’s The American Buffalo, which explores the themes of conservation, restoration and respect.
Great Plains Bison, written by buffalo rancher Dan O'Brien (also featured in The American Buffalo), traces the history and ecology of this American symbol from the origins of the great herds that once dominated the prairie to its near extinction in the late 19th century and the subsequent efforts to restore the bison population. A project of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska; published by Bison Books.
Watch Seed Warriors
- Also available on YouTube or the PBS Video App
Seed Warriors, directed by Rebekka Schlichting (Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska), follows a group of seed keepers in their ancestral homelands of Nebraska as they seek to regain sovereignty over the food system. By reclaiming their sacred corn seeds, they work to return to the healthy, traditional lifeways of the Pawnee people. Learn more at PawneeSeed.org. Produced in collaboration with Nebraska Public Media for the HOMEGROWN: Future Visions digital shorts series. HOMEGROWN: Future Visions is a Co-Production of Firelight Media and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), with funding provided by the CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (CPB), In Association with PBS.
Where can I request a kit?
ANYONE can organize a book club group using the resources in our downloadable resource guide: Nebraska Public Media Book Club Discussion Guide.
Book club kits of up to 10 books are available through the following sources:
Public libraries across Nebraska can borrow kits through these existing book club kit programs. Ask your local library to request one for your group!
Individual kits for library patrons are available for check out at these libraries.
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Community Partners
We are grateful to these community partner organizations who contributed guidance and materials to this book club kit:
- Center for Great Plains Studies
- Vision Maker Media
- University of Nebraska Press & Bison Books
- Nebraska Library Commission
- Nebraska’s Regional Library Systems: Central Plains, Southeast, Three Rivers and Western
About The American Buffalo
A New Documentary from Ken Burns
The dramatic story of how America’s national mammal, once numbering in the tens of millions and sustaining the Native people of the Great Plains for untold generations, was driven to the brink of extinction. But then an unlikely collection of people rescues it from disappearing forever. Ken Burns recounts the tragic collision of two opposing views of the natural world––and the unforgettable characters who pointed the nation in a different direction.
THE AMERICAN BUFFALO is a production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Directed by Ken Burns. Written by Dayton Duncan. Produced by Julie Dunfey and Ken Burns, and co-produced by Susan Shumaker. Emily Mosher served as associate producer and Julianna Brannum as consulting producer. Edited by Craig Mellish, ACE; Alex Cucchi, assistant editor. Principal cinematography by Buddy Squires. Narrated by Peter Coyote. The executive in charge for WETA is John F. Wilson. Executive producer is Ken Burns.
Corporate funding for THE AMERICAN BUFFALO was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by The Better Angels Society and its following members: Margaret A. Cargill Foundation fund at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation; Diane and Hal Brierley; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; John and Catherine Debs; Kissick Family Foundation; Fred and Donna Seigel; Jacqueline Mars; John and Leslie McQuown; and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Tudor Jones. Funding was also provided by The Volgenau Foundation.