Home › Books › Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Ex…
Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction
by
79/99
Critics' Rating Index
66/99
Readers' Rating Index
79/99
Scholars' Citation Index
84/99
Volume of Reviews
50/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
A vibrant history of the modern conservation movement—told through the lives and ideas of the people who built it. In the late nineteenth century, as humans came to realize that our rapidly industrializing and globalizing societies were driving other animal species to extinction, a movement to protect and conserve them was born. In Beloved Beasts, acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the movement's history: from early battles to save charismatic species such as the American bison and bald eagle to today's global effort to defend life on a larger scale. She describes the vital role of scientists and activists such as Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson as well as lesser-known figures in conservation history; she reveals the origins of vital organizations like the Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund; she explores current efforts to protect species such as the whooping crane and the black rhinoceros; and she confronts the darker side of conservation, long shadowed by racism and colonialism. As the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change escalate, Beloved Beasts charts the ways conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species—including our own.
Reviews
"Writing with warmth and humor, science journalist Nijhuis offers innumerable stories of the men and women—birders, scientists, hunters, and others—who played seminal roles in the haphazard advancement of modern species conservation ..."
"She also segues into the challenges facing conservationists today, such as climate change, organized crime and corporate interests."
"Nijhuis has created a defining and invaluable chronicle of an increasingly urgent lifesaving effort."
"A fine history of the genesis of the conservation movement ..."
"As she lays out the origins of environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund and Nature Conservancy, Nijhuis warns that organizations and governments are not doing enough to stave off mass extinction ..."
"With urgency, passion, and wit, Nijhuis recognizes those possibilities clearly and writes both to preserve history and predict what may lie ahead ..."
"Tracing key turning points in the development of conservation biology, Nijhuis shows that the growing threat of extinction provoked an intellectual revolution in the way scientists think about the very meaning of species ..."
"at its best in illuminating the passing of the conservation torch from one advocate to the next."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!