John Todd, of Living Machines fame and the New Alchemy Institute, has an interesting essay on http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/634 about the need for our urban and industrial society to understand the foundational role of soil, and the carbon cycle.
In 1984 Sam Bingham wrote a short book for Navajo country called Living from Livestock. Though one or two items are outdated (such as the recommendation to build radial grazing cells) it is a wonderfully illustrated and trenchant introduction to the relationship of grazing to ecosystem function in an arid environment. Thanks to Sam we are able to offer it as downloadable pdfs. (Right click, Save As, to download.)