In the year 1600, the landscape now known as the Maine Woods was unbroken. Forest cover was effectively 100 percent, just as it had been for more than ten thousand years. By 1900, forest cover had declined by more than thirty percent and two million hectares of new farmland struggled to sustain an influx of European settlers. Most of the farms were not up to the task and were eventually abandoned. In their wake, forest cover rebounded to more than 90 percent. Today, Maine’s status as the most forested state in the nation is secure. Nonetheless, as in all New England states, the trajectory has again turned downward. This time, the Maine Woods are giving way to exurban sprawl creeping up from the south and to second homes that are perforating the north. This record of forest loss, recovery, and renewed threat is familiar to those of us who are interested in the northeastern landscape. It is the central narrative through which we see the region. Of course, the full history of the land is far more nuanced and, in many ways, far more interesting. The natural and cultural history of Maine has, by and large, occurred within all that forest cover. Fortunately, that is the focus of a new book, The Changing Nature of the Maine Woods, by Andrew Barton, Alan White, and Charles Cogbill. Students of the land and lovers of New England (and of Maine in particular) will delight in this book. There are other books about the Maine landscape, but none quite like this. It straddles convenient classification: it is neither a textbook nor is it popular science writing; it is told by a single voice (Barton’s), except where particular expertise is needed (White’s and Cogbill’s); it is both a historical and ecological review; and it presents new data and several new analyses. The Changing Nature of the Maine Woods covers a lot of a territory, from deep history as told through fossil pollen grains, to climate projections into the twenty-second century. It is an achievement, therefore, that the storyline remains clear and RHODORA, Vol. 116, No. 967, pp. 359–362, 2014 E Copyright 2014 by the New England Botanical Club