A prologue in deep time -- Clovisia the beautiful -- Raven's and Coyote's America -- To know an entire heaven and an entire Earth -- Thou shalt acknowledge the wonder -- The natural west -- Silence and emptiness -- Last rivers across the sky -- Golden-eyed lightning rod -- A species of eternity -- How are you enjoying the Anthropocene?
Summary:
When humans emigrated onto the North American continent, they encountered a grand bestiary that had existed here millions of years. Dan Flores' brilliant narrative history spans eons, from humanity's earliest impacts on the "wild new world" to America's present struggles to rescue species in today's overheating planet. Tracing our evolution as predatory hunters and our role in the ongoing "Sixth Extinction," the story engages topics such as why America no longer has elephants, how native people sustained biological diversity across 10,000 years, why European-Americans were so committed to destroying the continent's wolves, and how religion and free-market capitalism allowed the United States to engage in the most massive destruction of animal life in modern world history. Yet in an extinction crisis and climate change that are scrambling ecologies everywhere, America's public lands and its Endangered Species Act has the United States in better shape than almost anywhere else in the world, offering humanity a continued chance to experience one the Earth's wild marvels.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.