Last seen in the 1880s cougars also known as pumas or mountain lions are making a return to the plains regions of the Midwest Their comeback heralded by wildlife enthusiasts has brought concern and questions to many Will the people of the region make room for cougars Can they survive the highly altered landscape of the Midwest Is there a future for these intrepid pioneers if they head even farther east Using GIS technology and historical data among many other methods Phantoms of the Prairie takes readers on a virtual journey showing how the cougar might move over the landscape with minimal human contact Drawing on his years of research on cougars John W Laundre offers an overview of what has been what is and what might be regarding the return of cougars to their ancestral prairie homeland