DNF. Found the argument facile and the book frankly unnecessary as a work of historical study.

In the first few pages of this book, we learn that non-rabid wolves have never killed a human in the lower 48 states. Humans, however, have tortured wolves into near extinction in their quest to remove wolves. Even naturalist John James Audubon described scenes of horrific torture of this predator.

The author's premise is that settlers were exceptionally cruel in removing wolves as an outlash against their hard positions in a new environment that often did not live up to their rosy expectations and had far more hardships than anticipated.

While I learned a lot from his position, I believe he missed the importance of livestock to its owners. He also undervalues the hunting culture in both pioneer days and in current times. I am not a hunter, but I belive that his negative remarks on hunting also show a lack of understanding of this aspect of the puzzle. He refers to hunters multiple times as slaughtering 'furry animals'. He refers to the poacher of a reintroduced wolf as a having "a stockpile of masculine totems -- guns, skins, and antlers -- that helped a small man feel big".

Unfortunately the author is not a naturalist and his book, while having some intresting information, is not the balanced look at wolf populations that I hoped it would be. ( )