Between Light and Storm: How We Live with Other Species

Recent developments, including climate change and widespread drought and flooding, have forced people to examine their relationships with the physical environment and the animal kingdom. In this work, popular and critically acclaimed British nature writer Woolfson (Field Notes from a Hidden City: An Urban Nature Diary) analyzes, in exquisite detail, numerous issues concerning the relationships between humans and animals and their many complexities. Ten chapters flow together well to provide a useful historical context, beginning with prehistorical societal norms and going up through debates on the morality of current related issues including guns, hunting regulations, factory farming, and the animal fur industry. Woolfson’s writing style is highly academic; the book concludes with a comprehensive source list. However, her style is also very elegant and personal. Readers will find it familiar and will likely be uplifted. Stories of her personal relationships with animals, especially birds, are interspersed throughout, providing a beautiful framework.