Author Description

"Scientific studies undertaken in the last half century have produced a vast body of literature revealing the realities of the wolf's nature and the animal's prospects for survival in today's world. Steinhart apparently read it all. He also interviewed biologists who work with wolves in the wild and in captivity and talked with both enemies and friends of the wolf. From all this, he has distilled important information, and, to boot, he has added his own intelligent insights to it. Effectively and interestingly, he communicates to the reader what the wolf means to various people, as well as an understanding of the wolf's value as a continuing presence in our world. If not the best, this is one of the best compendia of information on and philosophies of wolf management. It contains few factual errors. One of these is that on page 199, Ghost Ranch Museum, at Abiquiu, New Mexico, is called "a Department of Game and Fish facility." It was in fact owned by the U.S. Forest Service and was never acquired by the game department. The discrepancy likely results from imperfect communication between interviewer and interviewee. The few errors do not detract from the effectiveness of the book's plea for continued efforts on behalf of one of the most controversial of endangered species. The volume arrives as political changes bring challenges to the structure and existence of the Endangered Species Act. Steinhart's support of the wolf goes beyond ecological arguments to an analysis of our spiritual need for the company of wolves, a species with which we evolved."--Science Books and Films.