Jon Mooallem has been a contributing writer to The New York
Times Magazine since 2006 and is a writer at large for Pop-Up
Magazine, the live magazine in San Francisco. He’s also contributed
to This American Life, The New Yorker, Harper’s, Wired, and many
other magazines. He and his family live in San Francisco.
www.JonMooallem.com
***A New York Times Notable Book of 2013***
"[An] ambitious and fascinating first book… [Mooallem] seamlessly
blends reportage from the front lines of wildlife conservation with
a lively cultural history of animals in America, telling stories of
people past and present whose concern for animals makes them act in
ways that are sometimes unexpected, sometimes heroic, and
occasionally absurd."—New York Times Book Review
"A thoughtful parable of Americans’ complicated relations with
conservationists and the wildlife they protect."—The New Yorker
"Intelligent and highly nuanced… This book may bring tears to your
eyes. If so, they will be drawn out by the tragedy of what we have
done and the all-too-often pathetic efforts to turn back the clock.
But read through the tears, and you will find yourself more
informed, more prepared to make a difference. Mooallem has done
those of us who care deeply about nature and wildlife a favor,
leaving us justifiably off balance but putting us in a better
position to move beyond hubris to pragmatic solutions."—San
Francisco Chronicle
"An engaging nature/environment book that goes beyond simple-minded
sloganeering."—Kirkus
"Wild Ones heightens one’s awareness of the precipitous position of
so many of our animal species, but it’s also filled with curiosity
and hope. The men and women that Mooallem tails are dreamers, but
you wind up rooting for them to keep on dreaming."—Smithsonian
"There is, in short, ridiculously lots to love about Jon Mooallem’s
Wild Ones—starting with its thoughtful and troubling observation
that our increasingly extravagant effort at species conservation is
a corollary to, as much as a solution for, our habit of rendering
wild animals extinct."—New York Magazine
"Mooallem argues conservation is and always has been about
fulfilling people’s need for nostalgic wildness, however contrived
and fictitious it may be. Every generation strives to return the
Earth to some idealized former state. Although his journey is
sobering, Mooallem’s conclusion is upbeat: Even small conservation
victories matter."—Discover
"Mooallem manages to pinpoint something peculiar yet poignant about
being human, and as a result, reading his pieces often feels like
being tricked by an approachable wink masking a sharp jab to the
gut... Be prepared to be surprise-gutted."—East Bay Express
"A clear-eyed look at our coy relationship with endangered
animals."—Nature
"If I could write this review entirely in smiley faces and majestic
animal emojis, I would: Wild Ones is easily one of the best books
I've come across this year. It's more readable than most novels,
stuffed with more fascinating, offbeat trivia than the last three
issues of The New Yorker combined….It's incredibly well-researched,
relevant, challenging stuff."—Portland Mercury
"'If we choose to help [polar bears] survive,' Mooallem writes, 'it
will require a kind of narrow, hands-on management—like getting out
there and feeding them.' Among a lot of environmentalists, those
are fighting words. All respect to Mooallem for having the guts to
say them.”—Outside Magazine
"This book is dense with both thought and fact… It is written with
a vernacularly light touch, shot through with compassion and wit,
not to mention open amazement, the only apt response to the story
of our monumental hubris."—The Daily Beast
"Mooallem argues that by focusing on the animals themselves, we are
overlooking the point of the Endangered Species Act, which stressed
the paramount importance of ecosystems—a far more difficult thing
to save than a species. He strives for the big picture here and
gently guides readers through what ultimately becomes a poignant
tribute to all who try to make the world a better place. This is a
wise approach to a troubling subject, and Mooallem’s words do give
us something to hold on to as we continue to struggle with what it
means to save the planet."—Booklist
"It is impossible to express, within the tiny game-park confines of
a back cover, how amazing I find this book. I love it line by
perfect, carefully crafted line, and I love it for the freshness
and intelligent humanity of its ideas. As literary nonfiction, as
essay, as reportage, Wild Ones is, to my mind, about as good as
writing gets."—Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Gulp
"I love Jon Mooallem and I love animals, but this book is even
better than the sum of its parts. Mooallem makes a persuasive case
that wild animals are America's cultural heritage—our Sistine
Chapel and our Great Books—and the story he tells is an archetypal
American one. Even as the animals are being destroyed by
unthinking, unconscious corporate forces, they are also being
rescued through the tremendous energy and ingenuity of individuals,
men and women who wear whooping-crane costumes, cohabitate with
dolphins, and encourage condors to ejaculate on their heads. Wild
Ones made me proud to be American."—Elif Batuman, author of The
Possessed
"Part harrowing arctic adventure, part crazy airborne travelogue,
and often funny family trek, Wild Ones shows us that while saving
species might be of debatable value to some, it is maybe in our
genes, and definitely in our hearts. Mooallem's analysis of our
various environmental movements has the breadth and penetrating
clarity of Michael Pollan, but more importantly he makes us wonder
even more about a world that is in desperate need of more
wonder."—Robert Sullivan, author of Rats and My American
Revolution
"During the course of his three expeditions, Jon Mooallem collects
in the specimen jars of his elegant paragraphs enough ironies,
curiosities, insights, and revelations—enough life, wild and
otherwise—to stock a mind-altering museum, one unlike any other, in
which Martha Stewart has wandered into the polar bear exhibit, and
the Hall of North American Animals turns out also to be a hall of
mirrors. With Mooallem as your nature guide, you won't look at wild
animals—or at Homo americanus—quite the same way again."—Donovan
Hohn, author of Moby-Duck
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