OF WOLVES AND MEN (Of Wolves & Men Cloth)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: A group of school children was asked to each draw a picture of a wolf. They all drew the typical savage dog-like monster, complete with huge teeth, bloody fangs, demonic eyes, the works. Then an animal handler brought a real wolf into the classroom, on a leash. They were awestruck, and took turns patting it as it was led around the room and introduced to them all. Afterwards, they were again asked to draw a picture of a wolf. This time, the picture was of wolves with big, kind eyes - and enormous, outsized feet. No fangs, no blood.

That's what this book will do to the casual reader, show you the wolf you don't know, and adjust your preconceptions about the wolf you THINK you know. A marvelous achievement; must reading.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful and honest, reads like poetry
Review: Barry Lopez captures magnificently the combination of scientific research, antidotal anomaly, and sheer pathos that is at the heart of wolf biology. The book manages to be well-documented and at the same time highly emotionally charged. The last two pages represent (in my humble opinion) the most gut-wrenching ending of any treatise ever penned on a single species. Having said that, don't go out and read the last two pages. You need the full weight of the book behind them to give them their punch.

Caution: the book will make you angry, and if you don't have a heart of granite, it may make you cry. It's terribly sad in places.

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly informative and readable!
Review: One of my earliest memories is reading Jack London's "Call of the Wild". Ever since then I have been fascinated by dogs and wolves. Barry Lopez has done the wolf and the reader a great service with the extensive research. He does an amazing job of not crusading for the wolf and because of this the book is that much more persuasive. I've always felt that wolves lived their lives similarly to the way that men probably should live their lives. Anyone who has any interest in wolves, or man's relationship with the wild should pick this book up immediately.