The Company of Wolves [Hardcover]

Peter Steinhart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1995

As wolves return to their old territory in Yellowstone National Park, their presence is reawakening passions as ancient as their tangled relations with human beings. This authoritative and eloquent book coaxes the wolf out from its camouflage of myth and reveals the depth of its kinship with humanity, which shares this animal's complex complex social organization, intense family ties, and predatory streak.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The most prevalent views of wolves are as a powerful symbol of wilderness and as a menace to game populations. Steinhart (Two Eagles?Dos Aguilas) explores the tangled relationships between wolf and human, fact and feeling, mythology and biology. Serious study of wolf predation began about 50 years ago, but it was Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf (1963) that redefined the animal in the public mind. Steinhart talked to ranchers, hunters, trappers, biologists, wildlife managers and people who keep wolves and wolf dogs. He leads us through the debates about reintroducing wolves into Yellowstone Park to serve as natural predators and looks at the North Carolina project where red wolves have been reintroduced. He discusses predation, wolf control in Alaska and hybridization. We learn that there is a DNA test to distinguish definitively between wolves and coyotes, but none for wolves and dogs. One of the fascinating things about wolves and humans is the similarity between their societies. Steinhart makes an eloquent case for preserving wolves, who are intelligent creatures. This belongs on the shelf next to Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

People either hate wolves or love them. To many, wolves have come to represent the last remnants of wildness; to others, wolves are a metaphor for the deeper aspects of the human animal. This is not a treatise on wolf biology but an examination of the relationship between humans and wolves in the wolves' last refuges in the Arctic and in places where the two species live together again as wolves move into new areas, either through their own natural movements or through attempts at reintroduction. Steinhart, the author of several books (e.g., Tracks in the Sky, Random, 1991) and many popular articles on the environment, speaks with wolf biologists, wildlife managers, trappers, ranchers, Native Americans, and others. Though it is clear where Steinhart's sympathies lie, the book is balanced between the wolves' advocates and their opponents. Highly recommended for general collections.
Bruce Neville, Univ. of Texas Lib., El Paso
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 391 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1ST edition (April 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679418814
• ISBN-13: 978-0679418818
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,085,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A kaleidescope of views about wolves, November 16, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Company of Wolves (Hardcover)

Peter Steinhart's book is a kaleidescopic view of the status of wolves today. There is everything in it from views on the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park to the controversial scientific status of the red wolf. Though Steinhart is sympathetic to the idea of having wolves in the wild, he deliberately takes a many-sided view, and tries to understand the motivations of wolf lovers, wolf haters, and researchers of all stripes. For city slickers like me, this is an invaluable way to introduce one to complex issues of animal v. human and the various environmental v. job claims which often dog species or habitat recovery issues. For this reason, I highly recommend that anyone interested in ANY environmental issues read this book, whether or not wolves are of interest to them

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to wolves, February 11, 2005

By 

Arthur Digbee (Indianapolis, IN, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Company of Wolves (Paperback)

This book discusses the world of wolves and their relations with people. It makes a great introduction to the subject. Though most of the material will be familiar to the dedicated wolf-freak, even she will learn some new things here. Steinhardt writes well, and the book is as much a page-turner as a nonfiction book can be.

Each chapter combines a particular theme with Steinhardt's discussions of some person relevant to that theme. For example, the chapter on howling focuses on Algonquin Provincial Park and its summer wolf howls, built around discussions with John Theberge, who started researched Algonquin's wolves by howling at them. The most amusing of these subject-and-person pairings is the chapter on wolf pack social organization, in which David Mech is characterized as the alpha male of wolf research.

Each chapter also includes some musings on the meaning of wolves for humans. Why do we hunt? Why do we react to the howl as we do? Why do some people breed wolf-dog hybrids? Some of these musings posed interesting questions but I didn't find any of Steinhardt's comments on them particularly insightful.

Steinhardt is clearly on the side of the wolves, and I suspect that most of his readers are, too. Still, he makes an effort to discuss both sides of the issue. Ranchers and even a retired wolf-bounty hunter find sympathetic portrayals here.

The book's overall lack of depth would be my only significant criticism. To learn more, dig into the "further reading" that Steinhardt provides at the end.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An informative, interesting, well written book, August 27, 1999

By 

W Austin (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Company of Wolves (Paperback)

In my view, anyone with an interest in the natural world will find this book valuable. Arguements are balanced and well presented. The author had done an excellent job in explaining and dispelling many of the *incorrect* beliefs and fears which people have about wolves.