Catholic Press Award-winner. With the ascendancy of a new pope and his papal visit to the U.S. in 2009, the future of the Catholic church is again on the minds of many. In this influential bestseller, John R. Quinn, who served as Archbishop of San Francisco, makes a clear and bold case for reform within the Catholic Church, particularly of the policies and procedures of the Roman Curia.

Millions of people glance at the Meadowlands from their car, train, or airplane window -- and often dismiss it as a wasteland of traffic arteries, industry, trash dumps, and weeds. John R. Quinn, naturalist and artist, teaches us to see New Jersey's Meadowlands with new eyes as he explores the history and the living environment of this unique urban wilderness.

Since childhood, Quinn has been observing the creatures and listening to the voices of the people who live in these fields of sun and grass, just a few miles from Manhattan. With an artist's sensibility, he introduces us to the geologic forces that shaped the land, to the Lenape who cherished its wealth of food, to the European colonists who battled for independence on its fields during the Revolutionary War, to the present-day developers and environmentalists who struggle to balance the needs of society with the need to preserve the ecology of this urban wilderness.

This beautifully illustrated book takes you on a journey through New Jersey's Meadowlands where a heavily industrialized marsh complex meets the wide vistas of the Hackensack River ecosystem. The artist's pen and ink drawings and inviting prose introduce you to the animals and plants that inhabit this living laboratory where modern humankind and nature coexist. Quinn captures in this fresh and unique overview of the Meadowlands the essence of a modern environmental paradox. His book is for anyone who appreciates nature and for anyone who has commuted across these wetlands just beyond the New Jersey Turnpike.
-- Richly illustrated with 200 original line drawings by the author.
-- Unique overview of widely recognized but little understood urbanwilderness.

"John Quinn's recollections and dramatic drawings create a portrait in text and line of a surprising urban wetlands. A valuable edition to volumes on New Jersey". -- Anne Galli, Director of Environmental Education, Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission