Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution [Hardcover]

Caroline Fraser (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 22, 2009

A gripping account of the environmental crusade to save the world’s most endangered species and landscapes—the last best hope for preserving our natural home

Scientists worldwide are warning of the looming extinction of thousands of species, from tigers and polar bears to rare flowers, birds, and insects. If the destruction continues, a third of all plants and animals could disappear by 2050—and with them earth’s life-support ecosystems that provide our food, water, medicine, and natural defenses against climate change.

Now Caroline Fraser offers the first definitive account of a visionary campaign to confront this crisis: rewilding. Breathtaking in scope and ambition, rewilding aims to save species by restoring habitats, reviving migration corridors, and brokering peace between people and predators. Traveling with wildlife biologists and conservationists, Fraser reports on the vast projects that are turning Europe’s former Iron Curtain into a greenbelt, creating trans-frontier Peace Parks to renew elephant routes throughout Africa, and linking protected areas from the Yukon to Mexico and beyond. 

An inspiring story of scientific discovery and grassroots action, Rewilding the World offers hope for a richer, wilder future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though the poisons of pollution and the encroachment of climate change are continuing environmental threats, it's the acceleration of biodiversity loss that most alarms Fraser (God's Perfect Child) in this well-sourced study of worldwide attempts to knit together enough ecosystems to keep life alive. The problem: the disappearance of nature itself—the mass extinction of species, from lumbering polar bears to fragile flowers—that could see half of all nonhuman life extinct by the end of this century. The solution: rewilding—a nascent resurrection ecology that designs wildlife refuges (cores) and, more importantly, creates corridors connecting one refuge to another so that species such as elephants, tigers and wolves can range more wildly, a key to survival. Successful rewilding in North America, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, has led to a rebound in mountain lion and bear populations; more unexpectedly, the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea, a narrow 155-mile-long corridor uninhabited by humans for 55 years, has seen an ecological rebirth and is now home to 67 endangered species. Though Fraser's fact-heavy prose is slow reading, her story of grassroots activism paired with the scientific is environmentally inspirational. (Dec.)
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Review

"With this book, Fraser does for rewilding what David Quammen did for island biogeography in his seminal The Song of the Dodo. Fraser uses lucid prose, engaging stories and personal experience to make the ideas accessible and vital to a wide audience. This is no dreary rehearsal of past eco-errors and present concerns. Fraser takes us far beyond San Diego, straight into the lives of African elephants, Australian lizards and a Russian bear that intruded upon the Olympic Games, sitting on the sidewalk while languidly consuming a young girl's pet rabbit. 'We are so close,' Fraser says, and we require just a strong nudge in imagination and social engagement to make the rewilding dream real. With this lovely, necessary book, we step closer to that ideal."

—The Los Angeles Times

 

"Clear-eyed. . . Fraser pursues [her themes] with sensitivity and realism."

—The New York Review of Books

 

"A thoughtful examination of rewilding and its discontents. . . an important book."

—The New York Times

 

"This is a serious book, about a serious subject. . . a crisis more threatening than climate change."

—San Francisco Chronicle

 

"Methodical, lyrical. . . If ever there was a conservation idea ready to take hold and change awareness, it's rewilding."

—Sacramento News & Review

 

"A clarion call to save wildlife and the wilderness by 'rewilding.'"

—The Daily Beast

 

"Readers will come away better informed about the complexity of the ecosystems around us and with an increased awareness of the many factors involved in maintaining natural order and balance. . . This truly is an essential read for conservationists, biologists, and anyone interested in the natural world."

—Library Journal, starred review

 

"A fascinating, little-known story. . ."

—Associated Press

 

"Makes a convincing case that [rewilding] represents the only realistic strategy for conserving our rapidly diminishing wildlife."

—Kirkus

 

"Her story of grassroots activism paired with the scientific is environmentally inspirational."

—Publishers Weekly

 

“Since I spend much of my time trying to head off environmental calamity, this fascinating and lyrical book came as a particularly welcome gift. It shows how scientists and activists are using imagination and research to build a realistic strategy for securing our green and noble heritage for the future. It will help you think big, which is the only way to think about these questions.”
—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth and The End of Nature

 

“A riveting journal of the astonishing bio-impoverishment of our planet.”
—Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance and author of Crimes Against Nature

 

“Caroline Fraser’s Rewilding the World is an exciting and wise exploration of a revolution that’s reshaping the conservation movement. She’s gone all over the world to bring us news from the front lines, and her account is one of essential hope: though it’s no guarantee that we can save nature from collapse, she shows that we have a fighting chance. Fraser’s account stirred me.”
—Richard Preston, author of The Wild Trees and The Hot Zone

 

"Give them room to roam! Caroline Fraser’s smart, passionate manifesto offers hope to the wild world. In an age of overwhelming loss, she shows us how to gain: more bears, more wolves, more biodiversity, more thriving ecosystems, more life. This is an important book about the cutting edge of conservation and how it might save our continent and our selves."
—Bruce Barcott, author of The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw

 

“Rewilding is less a conservationist's utopian vision than a roadmap for the way we must learn to live on earth. As Caroline Fraser carefully explains, humans will survive only in a world as wild as the one that created us. If you want to live, read this book.”

—Doug Peacock, author of The Essential Grizzly and Walking It Off

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books (December 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805078266
• ISBN-13: 978-0805078268
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #93 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Endangered Species

More About the Author

Caroline Fraser is the author of Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution (Metropolitan, 2009) and God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church (Metropolitan, 1999), which was selected as a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Book Review Best Book. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Review of Books, and Outside magazine, among others. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How to save the world January 1, 2010

By Kerry Barringer

Format:Hardcover

Recently, as scientists learned more about the things that different species need to live, we discovered that many of the things we were doing to try and save species and preserve ecosystems were not helping. Populations of many species were still shrinking, despite our efforts, and more species were becoming more and more endangered.
This new book by Caroline Fraser, Rewilding the World, tells of groups of scientists and conservationists who asked why our efforts were not working and how they could be improved. Trying new methods of research, they reached the conclusion that many of our efforts to set aside preserves were not effective. Preserves were often too small and too isolated. Many species, especially the important keystone predators were being forced into spaces too small to sustain them.
Fraser takes us around the world, looking at efforts to rebuild wild ecosystems and give species the habitats they need to survive. Fraser uses leading scientists and environmentalists to explain the cutting-edge science and political action that has begun to rewild important parts of the earth and help to rebuild the environmental services that sustain us.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring road map to confronting the looming extinction of species December 26, 2009

By James M. Morris

Format:Hardcover

If you are worried about the future, you owe Caroline Fraser a thank you. After years and years of research, Fraser has produced a readable, understandable, and comprehensive account of what needs to be done to ward off the looming extinction of thousands of species, from tigers and polar bears to rare flowers, birds, and insects.
Fraser takes you to the front lines of the remarkable "rewilding" movement that aims to save species with innovative ideas such as restoring habitats and reviving migration corridors.
Reading this book leaves one with a feeling of hope.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, a deep-dive, and hopeful February 16, 2010

By J. Dreiblatt

Format:Hardcover

Fraser offers a well-researched account of efforts to invigorate wildlife populations around the world. I found the book to be an interesting explanation of the importance of biodiversity and an exploration of the complexities and difficulties faced in conservation efforts. It is good to see that there is progress being made and we have some hope for the future.