Dan Flores’s ambitious history chronicles the epoch in which humans and animals have coexisted in the “wild new world” of North America—a place shaped both by its own grand evolutionary forces and by momentous arrivals from Asia, Africa, and Europe. With portraits of iconic creatures such as mammoths, horses, wolves, and bison, Flores describes the evolution and historical ecology of North America
Wild New World The Epic Story of Animals and People in America
Dan Flores new book. I have it on reserve. I liked some of his prior books. The cover sucks!
Updated July 4 2023 from March 10 2023
I got this a few days ago. As usual, very well written and researched by Flores. It is mostly the history of the destruction of wildlife in North America. It has the vibe of Wildlife in America,” by Peter Matthiessen, which I read around age 14 and haven’t forgotten. It is hard to read this kind of history now and it has migrated to global level destruction. He mentions that and how biophiles have suffered because of it. I know I have. My whole life has been clouded by what is lost and being lost. As said in the last line of John Graves’, The Last Running, “We had a world, once.” That book was picked for Steve’s book on books.
Usually, he covers new information and there was some of that but not a lot new to me. He did say that de-extinction methods are advancing and that a Black Footed Ferret was cloned. This was important because it added to a very limited gene pool. Mammals it turns out are easier to clone. Birds have hurdles. The stem cells to clone from are not easy to find.
A good book but it is a hard subject to stomach.
The cover still sucks!