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: 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: A good start!
Review: As long as this book is read by someone with a logical mind who can find the errors and generalizations made by Lopez, this is an excellent book. It has few tendenies to generalize, though it does make the wolf out to be something of a magical creature with super powers in some points. It is a rare thing to find a good thick book of the behavior and ways of wolves (and men) so it would be unwise for the well-educated curious person to miss this.
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: OF WOLVES AND MEN: As reviewed by Ace
Review: Barry Lopez has certainly captured the very essence of the beautious creature, the wolf. As a great wolf enthusiast, I was extremely astonished at the extensive study and accurate information which Lopez has portrayed within this book. I recommend this written masterpiece to all wolf researchers, enthusiasts, or even animal lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Reading this book changed my perspective.
Review: Barry Lopez sensitively portrays the true personality and nature of wolves, challenging long-held myths of their ferocity and menace to society. His book was my introduction to a continuing interest in this noble yet misunderstood animal. I am grateful to Mr. Lopez for opening my eyes and heart and leading me to becoming an advocate on behalf of the wolf and its well-being.
Rating:
Summary: a classic book on the nature of animals
Review: barry lopez traces the development of phobias concerning wolves and contrasts that with the true nature of this animal. by the end of this sensitively written and sound book on wolves you will come to admire them as he does. a classic for the naturalist.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, if at times unbearably sad account of wolves.
Review: For all those people out there who would love to hear the cry of a wild wolve, this is the story of how this priviledge was almost destroyed forever, and what we need to know to make sure it never is. Barry Lopez is a brave man to tell this tale.
Rating: 
Summary: inside out structure
Review: I found Lopez's book to be well written, but organized in a frustrating manner.
The first section of the book flowed smoothly for me because it was essentially a scientific treatise and it was written as such. However, the rest of the book is a more personal enterprise, but Lopez continues to organize it like a term paper. Which is to say, topic sentence followed by supporting evidence, topic sentence followed by supporting evidence. In other words, he gives you his conclusions (or 'big idea') first and then provides all the details that led to that idea. This seems backwards to me and takes away any sense of 'aha' while reading. Lopez writes compellingly about his interviews with wolf killers and wolf researchers, but these passages are spoiled for me because I already know what he got out of them.
This pattern is reversed by the overall structure of the book, which ends with a discussion of the wolf's place in Western folklore and religion. The first three sections lead you through wolf science, Native American relations with the wolf, and European American relations with the wolf. In the final section you then get your 'aha' reaction when he reveals where the screwed up 'science' and the superstitions came from.
There is a lot of information in this book, but I found myself wishing that I could 'cut and paste' whole sections to put them into an order that I would have found more compelling. Instead I spent a good deal of the reading of the book arguing with Lopez about his conclusions because I already knew what they were. This book is an impassioned defense of the wolf and jeremiad against wolf killing, with which I fully sympathize, and yet, because it's structure masqueraded as a scientific presentation I expected to find a more balanced or more dispassionate text. This makes for a dissonant reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: A readable, scholarly book - a must for fans of canis lupus!
Review: I think this is Barry Lopez's finest book - it combines scientific fact and historical perspective to produce a potent work on a fascinating animal and its often-troubled relationship with man. If you are at all interested in wolves, read this book!
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