THE MASKED BOBWHITE RIDES AGAIN by...

THE MASKED BOBWHITE RIDES AGAIN by John Alcock, illustrated by Michael McCurdy (University of Arizona Press: $16.95; 186 pp., paperback original). Alcock takes the reader on a series of hikes through the mountains of Arizona, reflecting on the region’s land and wildlife: “There is a timeless aspect to desert landscapes populated with huge saguaros, leaving the viewer with a sensation of an immortal and unchanging world. Which just goes to show that sensations can be highly misleading.” A feisty, self-proclaimed “cactus hugger,” McCurdy alternately extols the beauties of the land and damns the federal government for turning national parks and preserves into subsidized pastures for the cattle industry.