The New Wolves: The Return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest [Hardcover]

Rick Bass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

A vivid exploration of the recent reintroduction of the Mexican wolf to the American Southwest. "A superbly turned-out work of art".--"San Diego Union-Tribune". 8-page color insert.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Once again, Bass (The Ninemile Wolves) returns to the controversial theme of wolf reintroduction to weave a lyrical narrative along the boundaries of the nature essay, character portraiture and eco-philosophy. Relying on contemporary anecdotes and personal remembrances that are full of sentiment but never sentimental, Bass discusses the government's efforts to reestablish the Mexican wolf population in three Southwestern states. His concern centers on the dramatic environmental changes that will greet this previously captive, zoo-bred remnant of the great wolf packs that roamed the territory for thousands of years. More than a century of overgrazing by cattle has changed the ecology to such an extent that Bass wonders if the species is adaptable enough to successfully regenerate in its former homelands. Bass, a staunch environmentalist, has sympathy for all the competing factions in this controversial equation. He doesn't deal in stereotypes. Ranchers, cowboys, Indians, hunters, survivalists, scientists, government agents and idealistic student activists are all treated with respect and understanding. The writer moves easily among the contending parties, with his keen eye on the land that holds and molds them all. He mines the layers of political, social, economic, cultural and ethical relevance with a unique poetic voice, and, in the end, it is the wolves who most vigorously capture his imagination and fascination. This is a ballad of a book, a hymn to the gloriously defiant power of survival that transcends the single issue that is its putative subject. Eight-page color insert, not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As a Southwestern companion to Bass's 1992 treatise on the reintroduction of wolves in Montana (The Ninemile Wolves, LJ 5/15/92), The New Wolves examines the federally mandated attempt to reestablish the lobo, or endangered Mexican wolf, in Arizona. The project, generally buoyed by public support, faces local opposition from ranchers and hunters. Bass presents a brief history of wolf eradication programs in the Southwest, as well as a description of the volunteers, philanthropists, and various government agencies involved in the ongoing project. As an avowed environmentalist, he readily admits the difficult prospects facing the three packs of wolves but remains hopeful they can adapt and survive in a changed landscape. A good addition (also see James Burbank's Vanishing Lobo, Johnson Bks., 1990, o.p.) by a popular author for public libraries and environmental collections. (Illustrations not seen.)ATim J. Markus, Evergreen State Coll. Lib., Olympia, WA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558216979
• ISBN-13: 978-1558216976
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,741,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking story of the Mexican wolves., January 17, 1999

By 

Matthew Karns "Avid and passionate reader." (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Wolves: The Return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest (Hardcover)

I have long been an admirer and fan of Rick Bass' works. He is a nature writer that understands the importance of landscape and wild places and creatures to the human spirit and the necessity to have all the appropriate elements of a particular landscape to make it complete. The Mexican wolf has been gone from the American Southwest for 70 years and Bass argues that the reintroduction of these wolves into this area is one of rightness and inevitability, as the landscape wants and cries for the wolves to be here. The book is sprinkled with a varied cast of characters, from Ted Turner and an assortment of wildlife biologists, (the heros of this story,) ranchers, students, amd many others. All points of view are thoughtfully considered and also the land and the wolves are described in the haunting manner that only Rick Bass can fashion. A great book for anyone interested in wolves, ecology, biology, or just landscape and nature and our human connection to it. I would highly recommend this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars "wolves will make it back to this land because the land desires it", July 21, 2011

By 

Matt Beatty (Provo, Utah) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The New Wolves: The Return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest (Paperback)

My first Rick Bass reading. A perfect mesh of interests for me, since I am already very interested in the gray wolves in the Rockies, their fates intertwined with the various states, and their levels of recovery in different areas.

Bass steps through the reintroduction of Mexican wolves (lobos), from the Endangered Species Act to those whom the wolves may affect (ranchers), to the volunteers and activists taking part in the reintroduction efforts. He lends an element of mysticism and spirit, even animism, to the land and to the wolves. This is woven throughout, not heavyhanded, just his sentiments that the land itself desires what it once had, a complete ecosystem and food chain, natural wild predators. And that when the land and its environment and surroundings are complete, everything (and everyone) benefits. It is a healthy support system.

The book references the studies related to reintroduction, and notes that a lot of guesswork has to go into it, since there was no real documented behaviors or studies of the lobos before we stripped them from the land. Bass's biases are obvious--but this book will mostly invite reads from those with a similar mindset.

I recommend this. A fast read, a nice succinct view into real conservation efforts that are happening today, and that have science, government, and good people behind them.

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Some of my favorite quotes (of which there were many):

"wolves will make it back to this land because the land desires it" (31)

"I need wilderness, big wilderness, as an antidote to my sins--a place to say, Here I will finally devour nothing" (104)

"if the land is sick, nothing on top of it can truly be vital or healthy" (73)

"I wonder: are we having radicalism bred out of us? What does it say for us when the idea of having one hundred Mexican wolves free in the world again is deemed radical?" (91)

"Everything writes sentences: rivers, streams, wind currents, elk herds, migrating geese, wolves. Everything has a voice. Some voices are merely less audible than others. We ignore them at our peril; in shunning the lessons of history we embrace ignorance, we fail to take advantage of guidelines for the future. Our stories, our lives, our cultures sag and fracture into gibberish and monosyllabic chants of *More, more more*. [...] we are running out of the thing that once sustained us: a certain spirit and imagination upon the land, and certain stories told to us by that land." (121)

"There are no neat stories in nature, no tidy closures with beginning, middle, and end; no epiphanies. There is only ongoing process, continuous struggle." (158)

2 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Braggart of a writer is a bore..., March 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Wolves: The Return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest (Hardcover)

Rick Bass, You have hardly the talent you say you have in the interview in writers market 99, your writing is dull and its ridiculously lame you won the james jones fellowship given your publishing credits...Uh, well at least your last novel or whatever you call it got trashed by the critics, and they seem to agree with me. Quit plagiarizing yourself and try to interest the reader, you arrogant tree-hugger. I do, however, think you might write a great one one day, but it is highly doubtful due to your poor attitude etc...