As you travel through Yellowstone, you might be unaware that you’re on top of an active supervolcano (why the park has so many geysers and hot springs).

Or that nearly a mile of ice covered most of the park 22,000 years ago–back when mammoths, giant short-faced bears, saber-toothed cats and many other ice-age megafauna lived in the area. Or that Stegosaurus, T. rex, and Triceratops once plodded through Yellowstone’s forests. Or that Native Americans have a connection to the park reaching back more than 11,000 years.

The Story of Yellowstone explores these and other areas, recounting what makes Yellowstone so unique.

The Story of Yellowstone is remarkably readable, comprehensive and soundly researched. Mike’s ability to condense such a vast amount of the story of Yellowstone into 130 pages is astounding. It reminds me of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.

— Norm Bishop, Retired Yellowstone National Park Interpretive Specialist