"Views From the Back forty" is the author's first person story about rural life on what had once been the back forty acreage of a family farm.  When the author and his wife purchased the land, partly for benefit of two growing sons, it gave the impression of  being worn-out acreage.  But after 30 years of  living there and experiencing its inherent values, the author found it to be much more: a trove of geology and natural history, a repository of human history, and one family's revelations about the enduring qualities of  being home on America's rural landscape. 

After a short introduction, this book takes the reader through 23 chapters that comprise 15% personal memoir, 15% regional history, plus 70% natural history and ecology that extend well beyond the back forty's geographical location in east-central Missouri.  

James P. Jackson has enjoyed a wide range of experiences.  Born in Paris, France, of American parents, he was reared in Missouri, served two years in Uncle Sam’s Navy, and earned two degrees from the University of Missouri.  An avid naturalist, he has worked in various fields of resource conservation, taught high school biology and led students on summer excursions into western wilderness areas.  As a freelance writer/photographer he is credited with numerous photo illustrated features in national magazines and has authored three books:  The Biography of a Tree; Pulse of the Forest; and Passages of a Stream-- Chronicles of the Meramec.

     Jackson and his wife, Charlene, have two sons, Keith and Glenn. The back forty has served as the family’s home base since 1979.