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Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction Paperback – March 29, 2022

by Michelle Nijhuis (Author)
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Winner of the Sierra Club's 2021 Rachel Carson Award
One of Chicago Tribune's Ten Best Books of 2021
Named a Top Ten Best Science Book of 2021 by Booklist and Smithsonian Magazine

"At once thoughtful and thought-provoking,” Beloved Beasts tells the story of the modern conservation movement through the lives and ideas of the people who built it, making “a crucial addition to the literature of our troubled time" (Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction).

In the late nineteenth century, humans came at long last to a devastating realization: their rapidly industrializing and globalizing societies were driving scores of animal species to extinction. In Beloved Beasts, acclaimed science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the history of the movement to protect and conserve other forms of life. From early battles to save charismatic species such as the American bison and bald eagle to today’s global effort to defend life on a larger scale, Nijhuis’s “spirited and engaging” account documents “the changes of heart that changed history” (Dan Cryer, Boston Globe).

With “urgency, passion, and wit” (Michael Berry, Christian Science Monitor), she describes the vital role of scientists and activists such as Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, reveals the origins of vital organizations like the Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund, explores current efforts to protect species such as the whooping crane and the black rhinoceros, and confronts the darker side of modern conservation, long shadowed by racism and colonialism.

As the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change wreak havoc on our world, Beloved Beasts charts the ways conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species including our own.

15 illustrations
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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    March 29, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0393882438
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0393882438
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

Beloved Beasts Michelle Nijhuis

Beloved Beasts Michelle Nijhuis

Beloved Beasts Michelle Nijhuis

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A comprehensive history of the conservation movement―and a warning that we are not doing enough to prevent further animal mass extinction."
― USA Today

"Spirited and engaging…Always attuned to ironies and anomalies, Nijhuis points out the changes of heart that changed history."
― Dan Cryer, Boston Globe

"A critical―and elegantly written―examination of the western-centric systems guiding environmentalism today…Nijhuis helps us understand how to avoid repeating the mistakes of our past as we reckon with our future."
― Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times

"Capacious, engrossing, and timely…Nijhuis is the sort of writer who makes excavating arcane facts and dinner-party-worthy anecdotes look effortless."
― Erica Berry, Outside

"A far-ranging, powerfully written history of the conservation movement."
― Alex Orlando, Discover

"Excellent…The book truly shines…when Nijhuis is brutally honest about how the conservation movement gained a reputation for being antihuman."
― Sarah Zielenski, Science News

"[Nijhuis] is a gifted storyteller, capturing both the heroism of those fighting extinction and the reality of biodiversity experts who warn that many, many species are in danger of disappearing within decades."
― National Book Review

"Lavishly researched, Beloved Beasts is a compassionate look at what humans have done―and need to do next―to protect the natural world."
― Amy Brady, Lithub

"Beloved Beasts raises questions that get to the heart of the conservation movement's shortcomings…[A] much-needed critical history of conservation."
― Austin Price, Earth Island Journal

"An environmental history that is essential reading for anyone committed to preserving life on Earth."
― Jason Mark, Sierra Club

"[An] exceptionally comprehensive and enlightening history of conservation."
― Booklist (starred review)

"With candor and authority, Nijhuis focuses on the intertwined relationships, backgrounds and paths of the fervent scientists and activists who spearheaded the conservation movement."
― Becky Libourel Diamond, Bookpage

"An engrossing history of conservation and its accomplishments…Compassionate yet realistic and candid throughout, Nijhuis makes a significant contribution to the literature on environmentalism."
― Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Nijhuis’s comprehensive survey is sure to delight nature enthusiasts and those concerned with disappearing species."
― Publishers Weekly

"Beloved Beasts is the definitive history of the conservation movement, in all its turbulent, passionate, problematic glory. It shines a bright and unsparing light on environmentalism’s most influential hidden figures, and breathes new life into Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and other heroes you thought you knew. The centuries-long campaign to protect our fellow creatures finally has the literary epic it deserves."
― Ben Goldfarb

"From the origin of the concept of species through the CRISPR revolution, Beloved Beasts is at once thoughtful and thought-provoking―a crucial addition to the literature of our troubled time."
― Elizabeth Kolbert

"In a bravura turn, Michelle Nijhuis shapes three hundred years of conservation history into one riveting tale. Beloved Beasts brims with surprise, compelling characters, and opportunities for introspection about the motley human effort to catalogue, celebrate, and protect the other inhabitants of our planet."
― Elena Passarello

"If ‘attention is prayer,’ as Simone Weil suggests, then Michelle Nijhuis’s carefully observed Beloved Beasts is a benediction bestowed not so much upon the men and women who carry out the work of species conservation but upon the very act of living in conversation with the more-than-human world."
― Elizabeth Rush

"What a lovely, timely book. Michelle Nijhuis’s deeply mined research and wholehearted compassion for her subjects―human and animal alike―are evident on every page."
― John Vaillant

"Michelle Nijhuis has written a book that is both a beautiful, wise history and a measured call to action. By remembering the messy, bighearted, sometimes nearsighted, but ultimately hopeful efforts of those before us, we can be smarter as we embark on the profoundly human project of saving species other than our own."
― Florence Williams

"A definitive and informative history…Nijhuis's detailed account is clear-eyed and unvarnished in its honesty."
― Valerie Thompson, Science

"Heartfelt, engrossing, thought-provoking, even brutal at times, but always, painfully honest. In her storytelling, Nijhuis doesn’t gloss over the dark moments…But it’s because of her bold literary choices that the transformative and transcendent moments in this history shine a little brighter."
― Pankiam Amer, Scientific American

About the Author

Michelle Nijhuis is a project editor at the Atlantic, a contributing editor at High Country News, and an award-winning reporter whose work has been published in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine. She is coeditor of The Science Writers’ Handbook and lives in White Salmon, Washington.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (March 29, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393882438
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393882438
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

About the author

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Michelle Nijhuis

Michelle Nijhuis

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Michelle Nijhuis is the author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, a history of the conservation movement published by W.W. Norton in 2021. She is a project editor at The Atlantic and a longtime contributing editor of the environmental journal High Country News; her award-winning writing about science and the environment appears in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. She is also the author of The Science Writers' Essay Handbook and the co-editor of The Science Writers' Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
180 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Blackbird
5.0 out of 5 stars should be required reading for young ecologists and conservation biologists
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
This well written book provides a wealth of information on many of the major figures in the development of the field of conservation biology, but also more broadly of the international nature conservation movement. The emphasis is the U.S. and Europe, but there are some figures from Africa (although not Africans) included.

The book takes a broad, historical look at the changes in attitudes from purely consumption of natural resources, including wildlife, to the beginnings of a conservation ethic and follows this through the 20th Century to the current realization that old behavioral patterns must change if we are to enjoy seeing mega-vertebrates and corals and songbirds far into the future.

Would be of interest to anyone who wonders about the evolution of our attitudes toward wildlife, from harvest to conservation, but is of fundamental importance to those studying wildlife ecology and conservation biology, and for them, this would be THE book to read to prepare for their qualifying exams.

I learned a lot by reading it and enjoyed every page. Highly recommended.
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2021
Verified Purchase
A must read for anyone interested in any sort of environmentalism. Like masters of the craft such as John McPhee, Nijhuis uses stories to draw the reader in and beautifully explain some of the most pressing issues in conservation and environmentalism. You will come away realizing (like after reading any sort of history) that the problems we face in the environmental movement today are very much not new, and that we have a lot to learn from the history of the movement.
4 people found this helpful
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Milton
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book but cover was ripped
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2021
Verified Purchase
Great book but cover was ripped
One person found this helpful
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L. Byrne
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and well written overview of major conservationists.
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
I’ve been studying and teaching conservation biology for years and this is one of the more memorable and engaging books that provides an authoritative history of the field. It’s about people, not other species but that’s just as important to understanding how to do conservation well as studying biology. Highly recommended
3 people found this helpful
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Jeanne Master
5.0 out of 5 stars Have to read but looks promising
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
Can’t rate until book is read but heard good things about it. Quick delivery, brand new.
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B. Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful History of Conservation and Timely Call for Change
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2021
This is such a lovely book. Nijhuis is a keen observer and gifted storyteller who weaves together multiple histories about the birth of the conservation movement, from Montana to New York to Namibia, with rich details about the historical figures who were sometimes maddeningly and deeply flawed, but ultimately inspiring. As a historical account alone, it would be a successful synthesis of deep reporting and a moving reconstruction of all that we’ve lost or nearly lost. One story flows into and builds upon another, creating a memorable portrait of the bison and hawks and wolves and rhinos and frogs and other animals that we pushed to the brink, along with the landscapes they inhabited. Not all of them made it. But this is a hopeful book, and given our "inescapable and inescapably complex" relationships with the rest of nature, it makes a powerful argument for the necessity of continuing to do what we can to preserve life in all of its messy and interconnected forms, some less endearing than others, for the betterment of all. This is book that will stay with you - it's a beautiful chronicle of life and death and an inspiring call for change.
26 people found this helpful
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T. Kepler
4.0 out of 5 stars Fauna & flora once gone are unreplacable
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2022
Well researched narrative on plight of species threatened by extinction. Recommend for its overall interest and applicable to our current concerns in the days of extreme climate.
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Top reviews from other countries

Mr Duncan Grossart
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and erudite history of nature conservation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
US orientated, though global in scope, very well written account of the history nature conservation
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