Of Wolves and Men (Paperback)

by Barry Lopez (Author) "IMAGINE a wolf moving through the northern woods..." (more)
Key Phrases: Middle Ages, North America, Red Riding Hood (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"The wolf exerts a powerful influence on the human imagination. It takes your stare and turns it back on you." So Barry Lopez writes in his first major work of nonfiction, a careful study of the way that wolves and humans have interacted over centuries, and the way that the wolf has become so central to our thinking about animals. Drawing on considerable personal experience with wolves and on an astonishing range of literature, Lopez argues for the necessity of wolves in the world, which would be much poorer without their howl. Thanks in part to the influence of this essential book about Canis lupus, first published in 1978, we know a great deal more about wolves and are all the better prepared to assure their protection.

Review
Walter Clemons Newsweek Eloquent....His own patient effort to understand a despised, feared and heavily mythologized beast induces a shiver, of strangeness, the sign of fresh, original work. -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Revised edition (September 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684163225
• ISBN-13: 978-0684163222
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #259,045 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on wolves I've ever read!, May 22, 1998

By	Kara Hodge (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews

This is probably the most informative book on wolves I've read. It's divided into four sections--the first is about wolves, the animals; what they eat, where they can be found, breeding, socializing, etc., and contains some unusual facts about wolves. The second section is about Native Americans and wolves--how the wolf affects Native American society (symbolism, etc.) The third, and probably the most horrific part, is about North Americans and wolves. This section covers the "war on wolves" that started in the 1800's and still goes on today--it contains mortifying statistics and facts about this dark, little-known period in American history. Almost too informative, if you know what I mean... The last section is about the wolf in Europe; the wolf in the middle ages, its place in literature, and some facts on wolf mythology. Very informative--especially for an older book--and a real eye-opener.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful., April 27, 2004

By	Ryan McNabb (Ooltewah, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest nature books of the past thirty years, October 15, 2003

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The greatest virtue of this book is that it makes you care. Some of the great wolf books presume already that you have an interest in the subject, like Mech's, as fine and as informative and as authoritative as it is, won't necessarily create a sense of awe like Lopez's. But through a judicious use of scientific and mythological materials, fused together with a marvelous literary sense, Lopez creates an epic retelling of the wolf in North America.

Since reading this book for the first time, a host of sections have remained vivid to me. For instance, a schoolroom that is to be visited by a wolf and its handler. The children are asked to make a drawing of a wolf beforehand, and most create a beast with huge and menacing teeth. After the visit, they are told once again to draw a wolf, and this time draw a dog-like animal with enormous paws. No other section of the book emphasized to me how dreadfully we misconceive wolves. Lopez meanders over the course of Western civilization harvesting tales and stories--both scientific and mythic--recounting the myriad ways we have thought about wolves. Few of our imaginings do their fine qualities justice, and most often we demonize them. As a result, the wolf as we know it is largely a creation of our fevered imaginations. Lopez tries to break through the fictions about wolves to focus more on their truer qualities and natures. The heartbreaking pages that end the book bring to mind the great tragedy it was for the North American wolf for Europeans to have discovered America.

One might have to cut the book a tiny bit of slack because of the graphics. The pictures are judiciously chosen, and while graphics methods have improved dramatically in the past twenty years due to computer technology, and the book the drawings are superb, the photos good if a tiny bit blurry given their age, and the illustrations highly informative. I especially love the reproduction of the print of a three-year-old Alaskan timber wolf. I used to take the paw of my German Shepherd Birgit and place it over the print, and was astonished at how huge the wolf print was in comparison.

This is a truly enjoyable and informative book, one that will enrich and alter the way one looks at nature. Certainly, I now never go to a zoo without a great deal of awe and regret when passing a wolf.