Description: NEW IN PAPERBACKIn pre-modern Japan, wolves were worshipped as sacred; with the spread of rabies in the 18th century, they became feared and hunted; by 1905 wolves had disappeared from the country. In this intriguing book, Brett Walker examines how and why wolves became extinct in Japan, and the changing attitudes toward nature that are implied. "This exquisite book provides an excellent introduction to the history of taxonomy and the development of ecological science throughout the world; it is also a wonderful examination of the human dimensions of wildlife in Japan Highly recommended.ChoiceBrett Walker is associate professor of history at Montana State University.
Brief description: Brett Walker is the Michael P. Malone Memorial professor of history at Montana State University. He is the author of A Concise History of Japan (Cambridge UP, 2015), as well as two titles in the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books series, Toxic Archipelago (2010), which won the George Perkins Marsh Prize for Best Book in Environmental History from ASEH, and The Lost Wolves of Japan (2005). He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013.
Review Quotes:
"Well illustrated and stylishly written, The Lost Wolves of Japan is a wolf's-eye view of premodern Japanese culture and the modern state's drive for modernization. . . . an excellent book easily worth the time to read it. Well written and imaginatively illustrated, this monograph is as fascinating as it is timely."
-- "Journal of Japanese Studies"