A mystical wasteland whose solitude has long fascinated Europeans and Americans, Patagonia conjures an image of absolute desolation. Explored by the likes of Carwin and Saint-Exupery, and more recently Chatwin and Theroux, Patagonia is home to a dwindling population of sheepherders, with whom Sara Taber lived for several years. Her narrative provides an intimate portrait of their life and land as she follows the social history of the region from its first settlement by Basques and Spaniards in the 1860s to the present decline of the sheep-ranching community. Illuminating the lives of these "survivors," the author offers an insider's view of the mystical and forbidding terrain as well as candid insights on solitude, self-sufficiency, and relationships to the land.
Dusk on the Campo is distinguished by a deep love for the spare landscape of Patagonia and an equally deep understanding of the hearty people who make their lives there.
-Ronald Wright, author of Time Among the Maya
A beautifully written account...readers may find themselves transfixed...lured, as Sara Mansfield Taber was, to search for the key to surviving solitude and hardship with abundant faith and grace.
-Booklist
Most books on Patagonia are written by travelers just passing through: this one probes deep into the meaning of living there.
-Library Journal
