"Through a narrative that roams in unexpected directions through
surprising details and history, then periodically grounds itself by
looping back to her own family before it soars off again, Alice
Outwater's infectiously readable Wild at Heart captures the essence of
ecology: Everything is connected, and every connection leads to
ourselves." ―Alan Weisman, author, The World Without Us and
Countdown
In the tradition of The World Without Us, a beautifully written and
ultimately hopeful history of our relationship with the natural world
Nature on the brink? Maybe not. With so much bad news in the world, we
forget how much environmental progress has been made. In a narrative
that reaches from Native American tribal practices to public health and
commercial hunting, Wild at Heart shows how western attitudes towards
nature have changed dramatically in the last five hundred years.
The Chinook gave thanks for King Salmon's gifts. The Puritans saw Nature
as a frightening wilderness, full of "uncooked meat." With the
industrial revolution, nature was despoiled and simultaneously
celebrated as a source of the sublime. With little forethought and great
greed, Americans killed the last passenger pigeon, wiped out the old
growth forests, and dumped so much oil in the rivers that they burst
into flame. But in the span of a few decades, our relationship with
nature has evolved to a more sophisticated sense of interdependence that
brings us full circle. Across the US, people are taking individual
action, planting native species and fighting for projects like dam
removal and wolf restoration. Cities are embracing nature, too.
Humans can learn from the past, and our choices today will determine
whether nature survives. Like the First Nations, all nations must come
to deep agreement that nature needs protection. This compelling book
reveals both how we got here and our own and nature's astonishing
ability to mutually regenerate.
