A Wild Promise

by Allen Crawford

In 1973, the United States Congress came together with bipartisan support to create and pass a bold and visionary act—one of protection, preservation, and promise. For the past fifty years, this promise, the Endangered Species Act, has ensured that the most threatened and vulnerable species and their habitats are protected. From the stellar sea lion to the ivory-billed woodpecker, from the steelhead trout to the red wolf—this landmark act has worked to preserve the wild beauty that surrounds and sustains us.

In A Wild Promise, acclaimed artist Allen Crawford beautifully illustrates over 80 animals that embody the spirit, legacy, and commitment of the Endangered Species Act. In his trademark inventive style, Crawford’s full-color illustrations and illuminated text create a vibrant tapestry of our nation’s habitats—oceans, mountains, deserts, wetlands, prairies, forests—and the varied species that call these places home. With a powerful and moving introduction by award-winning writer and conservationist, Terry Tempest Williams, A Wild Promise brings critical urgency and inspiration, lending voice and spirit to all Endangered Species. A one-of-a-kind work that’s visually delightful and inspiring throughout, A Wild Promise is a celebration of conservation, commitment, and compassion—a clarion call to continue to embrace, engage, and act in ways that preserve and protect our living world.

Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself

by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman’s iconic collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, has earned a reputation as a sacred American text. Whitman himself made such comparisons, going so far as to use biblical verse as a model for his own. So it’s only appropriate that artist and illustrator Allen Crawford has chosen to illuminate—like medieval monks with their own holy scriptures—Whitman’s masterpiece and the core of his poetic vision, “Song of Myself.” Crawford has turned the original sixty-page poem from Whitman’s 1855 edition into a sprawling 234-page work of art. The handwritten text and illustrations intermingle in a way that’s both surprising and wholly in tune with the spirit of the poem—they’re exuberant, rough, and wild. Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself is a sensational reading experience, an artifact in its own right, and a masterful tribute to the Good Gray Poet.