Nate Blakeslee

The only reason I'm not giving this book five stars is that the chapters on politics were irritating beyond belief. Because it seems all the attitudes, both pro and con, were based on optics and emotion, and not science or facts.

The book itself is well-written, well-researched, and very informative. The story of the Yellowstone wolves is a fascinating one. The author does a great job showing the animals and humans in all their individuality. There is no sentimentalizing here, just the show more portrayal of a complex species of apex predators in their natural environment, or as natural as it can be in a national park visited by millions of people.

I'm not anti-hunting, having lived for several years in Alaska where many people are subsistence hunters, and eat what they kill. I can understand, although don't always agree with, ranchers hunting to protect livestock. However, I do not understand trophy hunting. It is literally killing for the sake of killing, to have a head or a hide on the wall where someone else might hang art. This is not a thing to be proud of. Shooting an animal with a long distance weapon like a rifle is nothing close to 'fair chase,' no matter how much a hunter tries to justify it. Without need, without risk, there is no fair chase. So despite Blakeslee's attempt to portray the killer of wolf 0-six in a neutral light, I ended up despising him.

The concept of trophic cascade, how the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone ended up improving the entire ecosystem, is fascinating, and I would have been interested to learn more about that.

I have seen wolves at a distance in Canada and Alaska. Once, in Katmai National Park, I happened to be alone on a short trail through the woods. The group of people ahead of me had turned a corner and were briefly out of sight. A gray wolf stepped out of the trees onto the trail ahead, between myself and the rest of the group. It wore a research collar and stood still, looking at me, perhaps twenty feet away. I stopped, not wanting to get closer, but also aware that the group was getting farther away. We looked at each other for several moments before the wolf disappeared back into the woods. Although the encounter wasn't frightening, I was definitely aware of being in the presence of an intelligent predator. It had a completely different feeling than one gets from a dog. show less

This is a wonderful nonfiction book about the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. The author approaches the subject in the style of journalistic reporting. He is clearly on the side of the wolves and approves of the reintroduction, however, he does present both sides. Many of the people who live in the region worried about their livestock and the easy hunting of elk that both stocks their freezers and brings tourism/money to the area.

Blakeslee goes into the politics and show more legal fights around the issue, but where the book really shines is in describing the wolves themselves. He spends most of the book detailing how the wolves work as packs and how they interact between packs, bringing to life several individual wolves. He also describes how reintroducing the top predator helped so many animals thrive and brought the terrain back to life in ways that even experts didn't even know it needed.

Thanks to someone (Jerry?) for bringing this book to my attention. I loved it. show less

It seems like, when it comes to wolves, no one is neutral - people either love them or hate them. I am in the first category, not that I’ve ever seen one, but I fell in love with them after reading Never Cry Wolf way back in the ‘60s. But to many people in the US, especially hunters and ranchers, wolves were a particularly destructive predator not only to elk but to domestic livestock. As a result, they had been almost completely eradicated. Wolves had not been seen in much of the US in show more decades, Then in the ‘90s, as elk herds surged in Yellowstone Park, it was decided to reintroduce wolves into the area. Like so many others, I followed the story of their reintroduction, even felt an embarrassing sense of pride that those first wolves were Canadian wolves. But the ranchers and elk hunters were still strongly anti-wolf, an opposition made worse by the fact that the decision was made by the federal government and seemed to ignore the wishes of the residents.

In American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, writer Nick Blakeslee chronicles the history of the reintroduction, the packs, the politics, the science, their effect on the park, the question of wolf hunts, the political wrangles to take them off the endangered list as well as to keep them on it, the people who loved them, the people who hated them, and the people who just wanted to see them. He tells the story mainly through two individuals: Rick McIntyre, a biological technician for the Yellowstone Wolf Project who, it is safe to say, became obsessed with the wolves and O6, an alpha-female who became not only one of Rick’s favourites but would eventually become known as the most famous wolf in the world.

American Wolf is a well-written, well-documented book. Blakeslee tries to stay objective and give both sides a voice. He is clearly sympathetic to the hunters and ranchers and townsfolk who saw the reintroduction as detrimental to their way of life and he shows how divisive it proved to be. In one case, he mentions two stores in the same airport; one was pro-wolf and sold all kinds of wolf souvenirs and the other anti- and refused to carry anything wolf related. But, despite his best effort, it is clear that his real sympathy is for the wolves – many of whom he brings to life, chronicling their genealogy from the first group of wolves, the different packs who sprang from these first wolves, their pack behaviour as well as the distinct personalities of several individuals, their lives… and their deaths. This may be the only non-fiction book that has made me cry. For anyone who, like me, loves wolves or is just interested in the story of their reintroduction, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

Non-fiction about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone in Wyoming in the mid-1990s. Park ranger Rick McIntyre, after spending time at Denali in Alaska, relocated to Wyoming, and became a diligent wolf observer, documenting wolf behavior over the course of years. The author relied heavily on the Rick’s and other wolf-watchers’ field notes as reference material from which to create this account of wolves in the wild. The storyline focuses on an alpha female, O-Six (the year of her show more birth), and pack behavior throughout the region. Highlights include the social and family interactions of the pack, territorial aggression, and tracking prey.

I found this book extremely informative and well-written. The author has a knack of converting notes, interviews, and research into a cohesive and compelling story. In fact, one of the themes of this book is the impact of storytelling, conveyed through Rick and his interactions with the many visitors to the park. It communicates the passion of the wolf-watchers of Yellowstone, as well as portraying the differing points of view of hunters and ranchers. The book excels when it focuses on O-Six, her pack, and the other Yellowstone packs. I was very interested in the portions on the wolves and animal behavior but less fond of the chapters on politics. Unfortunately, a book of this sort was almost required to delve into the political aspects of wolf-hunting. The author interviewed one of the wolf hunters and included his viewpoints, assigning him a pseudonym. Even so, the tone is pro-wolf, elucidating the environmental benefits of a thriving ecosystem, complete with both predators and prey, eventually leading to balance.

Obviously, in the wild lots of harm comes to animals through a variety of means, so if you are sensitive to animals being injured or killed, you may want to skim or skip certain segments. Recommended to those interested in animal behavior, wolves, or environmentalism. show less