The Lost Wolves of Japan (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) [Paperback]

Brett L. Walker (Author), William Cronon (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books | Publication Date: September 5, 2000

In pre-modern Japan, wolves were worshipped as sacred; with the spread of rabies in the 18th century, they became feared and hunted; by 1905 wolves had disappeared from the country. In this intriguing book, Brett Walker examines how and why wolves became extinct in Japan, and the changing attitudes toward nature that are implied. Brett L. Walker is associate professor of history at Montana State University and the author of "The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion", 1590-1800.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Lost Wolves of Japan is not just a history of the wolf in Japan, but is also about Montana (the author's home) and North America, about nature and wilderness, and about what it is to be human and animal." Monumenta Nipponica "Walker has written a well-researched book with a message to all who are interested not only in our representations of wolves but in human-nature relations in general." American Historical Review "This exquisite book provides an excellent introduction to the history of taxonomy and the development of ecological science throughout the world; it is also a wonderful examination of the human dimensions of wildlife in Japan: Highly recommended." Choice

From the Publisher

"The Lost Wolves of Japan is not just a history of the wolf in Japan, but is also about Montana (the author's home) and North America, about nature and wilderness, and about what it is to be human and animal." - Monumenta Nipponica

"Walker has written a well-researched book with a message to all who are interested not only in our representations of wolves but in human-nature relations in general." - American Historical Review

"This exquisite book provides an excellent introduction to the history of taxonomy and the development of ecological science throughout the world; it is also a wonderful examination of the human dimensions of wildlife in Japan... Highly recommended." - Choice

"Brett Walker may be the only true environmental historian among Japanologists publishing in English. Unlike other scholars who have written on environmental themes in Japanese history (this one included), Walker's work places him squarely in the company of the leading environmental historians and ecologists. . . . (He) has given us a fascinating study of wolves and humans in early modern and modern Japan. In doing so he has raised important questions about links between changes in national identity and views of nature. He has also challenged scholars of Japanese environmental history to go beyond Japanology to situate themselves in the company of scholars of environmental history in other regions of the globe." - Journal of East Asian Studies

"This book's particular brilliance lies in its ability to trace the contours of this absent presence, telling us the history of wolf annihilation while revealing the impossibility of fully recovering that history... This book's immense achievement is its elucidation of the problem of writing history where all elements - human and nonhuman, climatic and cultural - are continually reconfigured. . . . The Lost Wolves of Japan is not only compelling environmental history but a deeply intelligent meditation on the historicity of our environment." - Isis

"Few books offer as intricate a view into another culture's attitudes toward an animal's extinction and disappearing wilderness as The Lost Wolves of Japan. Eloquently written and rich with notes that make this book highly appropriate for undergraduate and graduate course . . . Lost Wolves shows not only the global influences on species extinction but also how the loss of wilderness and signature species such as the wolf are deeply situated within rich, human worlds of rituals, stories, and legends that are themselves disappearing." - Journal of the History of Biology

"Inventive and heartfelt, The Lost Wolves of Japan is the kind of book many historians declare they will write when they earn tenure. But it is easy to say that you will be bold in the future. Walker actually keeps the promise." - The Journal of Asian Studies

"[An] excellent book. . . . Walker provides a wide-ranging perspective on the interactions between human and wolf culture, drawing on historical, religious, ecological, political, ethnological, and anthropological data - mostly from original Japanese sources. He adds a personal narrative engagement with his topic which enlivens the text and tale. Moreover, he dares to consider the fate of Japan's wolves from not only a human historian's perspective, but from what he calls a 'wolf's-eye view' of history." - ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment

"This is one of a small number of environmental historical studies of Japan available in English, and the skills of the author as a researcher and as a writer of prose accessible to specialist and layperson alike make it an attractive book indeed." - Asahi Shimbun --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Press (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295988142
• ISBN-13: 978-0295988146
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Mammals

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