Wolf Nation: The Life, Death, and Return of Wild American Wolves

A veteran of the "wolf wars," Peterson (Sightings: The Gray Whale's Mysterious Journey) draws on her own deep experience and artfully mixes it with science, history, and Native American lore to create a rich account of a most enigmatic creature. She fully explores lupine biology and ethology, and chapters devoted to two famous wolves, "06" and "OR-7" (aka "Journey"), complement that information. Readers learn how apex predators benefit ecosystems, and witness reintroduction in progress with Mexican gray wolves. Although the author leaves no doubt as to where her sympathies lie, she spends time with hard-core opponents to wolf conservation as well as with hunters and ranchers who are warming to the idea. Readers get an aching sense of what Canis lupus is up against—two-legged mammals with guns, of course, and, behind them, state wildlife commissions stacked with hunter-members gung-ho about removing wolves' protected status. Equally malignant, Peterson says, is the negative mythic weight of imported big bad wolf fables and homespun Old West tales of the animal as public enemy. Her book stands as a wise and potent antidote.