Caroline Tracey, "Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History" (W. W. Norton, 2026)

In this compelling episode of New Books in Biography & Memoir, host Zeb Larson speaks with author Caroline Tracy about her 2026 book, *Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History*, a powerful fusion of memoir, environmental history, and geography. Tracy traces her personal journey from a literature student drawn to the American West to a researcher obsessed with salt lakes—unique, closed-basin ecosystems shaped by geology and increasingly threatened by human activity and climate change. She explores the ecological, cultural, and colonial histories of salt lakes across North America and Central Asia, highlighting how indigenous communities like the Zuni and Paiute have long relied on and revered these landscapes, only to be displaced by settler and state-driven water diversion. The conversation delves into the concept of 'queer ecology,' illustrating how salt lakes—home to brine shrimp that reproduce in non-heteronormative ways and birds with reversed sex roles—challenge rigid biological categories and offer a model for rethinking landscape value. Tracy also reflects on how these impermanent, ephemeral environments mirror her own evolving understanding of identity and queerness, ultimately framing adaptation to change as a form of resilience. The episode closes with a poignant meditation on ephemerality as both a scientific reality and a queer epistemology, offering a vision of living with impermanence in an era of accelerating climate disruption. Tracy reveals her next project: a deep dive into the forgotten history of the sugar beet industry in the American West, a story deeply interwoven with her own family history.