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Wild Ones
- A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's summary
Field notes from an age of extinction, tracking the ever-shifting meaning of America’s animals throughout history to understand the current moment.
Journalist Jon Mooallem has watched his little daughter’s world overflow with animals - butterfly pajamas, appliquéd owls - while the actual world she’s inheriting slides into a great storm of extinction. Half of all species could disappear by the end of the century, and scientists now concede that most of America’s endangered animals will survive only if conservationists keep rigging the world around them in their favor. So Mooallem ventures into the field, often taking his daughter with him, to move beyond childlike fascination and make those creatures feel more real.
Wild Ones is a tour through our environmental moment and the eccentric cultural history of people and wild animals in America that inflects it - from Thomas Jefferson’s celebrations of early abundance to the turn-of-the-last-century origins of the teddy bear to the whale-loving hippies of the 1970s. In America, Wild Ones discovers, wildlife has always inhabited the terrain of our imagination as much as the actual land.
The journey is framed by the stories of three modern-day endangered species: the polar bear, victimized by climate change and ogled by tourists outside a remote, northern town; the little-known Lange’s metalmark butterfly, foundering on a shred of industrialized land near San Francisco; and the whooping crane as it’s led on a months-long migration by costumed men in ultralight airplanes. The wilderness that Wild Ones navigates is a scrappy, disorderly place where amateur conservationists do grueling, sometimes preposterous looking work; where a marketer maneuvers to control the polar bear’s image; and Martha Stewart turns up to film those beasts for her show on the Hallmark Channel. Our most comforting ideas about nature unravel. In their place, Mooallem forges a new and affirming vision of the human animal and the wild ones as kindred creatures on an imperfect planet.
With propulsive curiosity and searing wit, and without the easy moralizing and nature worship of environmental journalism’s older guard, Wild Ones merges reportage, science, and history into a humane and endearing meditation on what it means to live in, and bring a life into, a broken world.
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In this groundbreaking epic biography, Douglas Brinkley draws on never-before-published materials to examine the life and achievements of our "naturalist president." By setting aside more than 230 million acres of wild America for posterity between 1901 and 1909, Theodore Roosevelt made conservation a universal endeavor. This crusade for the American wilderness was perhaps the greatest U.S. presidential initiative between the Civil War and World War I.
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I DID keep listening
- By Susan Gardner Bowers on 01-13-10
By: Douglas Brinkley
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Heart of a Lion
- A Lone Cat's Walk Across America
- By: William Stolzenburg
- Narrated by: Mike DelGaudio
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Late one June night in 2011, a large animal collided with an SUV cruising down a Connecticut parkway. The creature appeared as something out of New England's forgotten past. Beside the road lay a 140-pound mountain lion. Speculations ran wild, the wildest of which figured him a ghostly survivor from a bygone century when lions last roamed the eastern United States. But a more fantastic scenario of facts soon unfolded.
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Outstanding story
- By Hutto on 09-28-16
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The Last Crocodile Hunter
- By: Bob Irwin, Amanda French
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Bob Irwin's extraordinary life as a wildlife pioneer, father to wildlife warrior Steve and founder of Australia Zoo, told in his own words. Bob Irwin grew up in the Dandenong Ranges, where his passion for wildlife was born. A near-death experience while working as a plumber made Bob realise he needed to follow his dreams, so he and his wife, Lyn, moved their young family to Queensland, where they opened a wildlife park on the Sunshine Coast. The Irwin children grew up in around the Beerwah Reptile and Wildlife Park....
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Great story!
- By Amazon Customer on 01-06-22
By: Bob Irwin, and others
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The Dinosaur Artist
- Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy
- By: Paige Williams
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In this 2018 New York Times Notable Book,Paige Williams "does for fossils what Susan Orlean did for orchids" (Book Riot) in her account of one Florida man's attempt to sell a dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia—a story "steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science, and politics" (Rebecca Skloot).
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More filler than Joan Rivers’ face.
- By Brandi on 03-13-19
By: Paige Williams
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In Search of the Canary Tree
- The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress, and a Changing World
- By: Lauren E. Oakes
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Several years ago, ecologist Lauren E. Oakes set out from California for Alaska's old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species meant loss for many Alaskans. Oakes and her research team wanted to chronicle how plants and people could cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevered to create new relationships with the emerging environment.
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Moving and inspiring
- By Catherine A Gould on 05-26-19
By: Lauren E. Oakes
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The Quiet World
- Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960
- By: Douglas Brinkley
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 23 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting history of America's most beautiful natural resources, The Quiet World documents the heroic fight waged by the U.S. federal government from 1879 to 1960 to save wild Alaska - ;Mount McKinley, the Tongass and Chugach national forests, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Lake Clark, and the Coastal Plain of the Beaufort Sea, among other treasured landscapes - from the extraction industries.
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Where are Native Alaskans?
- By Peggy on 11-13-14
By: Douglas Brinkley
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To See Every Bird on Earth
- A Father, A Son, and a Lifelong Obsession
- By: Dan Koeppel
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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From well-known nature and adventure writer Dan Koeppel, whose work has appeared in Audubon and National Geographic Adventure, comes this true story of one bird watcher's incredible achievements.
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Reader is Ancient
- By Caroline on 06-18-05
By: Dan Koeppel
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Lost Among the Birds
- Accidentally Finding Myself in One Very Big Year
- By: Neil Hayward
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Early in 2013 Neil Hayward was at a crossroads. He didn't want to open a bakery or whatever else executives do when they quit a lucrative but unfulfilling job. He didn't want to think about his failed relationship with 'the one' or his potential for ruining a new relationship with 'the next one'. And he almost certainly didn't want to think about turning 40. And so instead he went birding. Birding was a lifelong passion. It was only among the birds that Neil found a calm that had eluded him in the confusing world of humans.
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Know a Birder? This will help you Understand.
- By Carole T. on 08-27-17
By: Neil Hayward
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The United States of Cryptids
- A Tour of American Myths and Monsters
- By: J. W. Ocker
- Narrated by: Mark Sanderlin
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the United States of Cryptids, where mysterious monsters lurk in the dark forests, deep lakes, and sticky swamps of all fifty states. From the infamous Jersey Devil to the obscure Snallygaster, travel writer and chronicler of the strange J. W. Ocker not only uncovers the bizarre stories of these creatures but investigates the ways in which communities have embraced and celebrated their local cryptids.
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US Cryptid Tour
- By Admiralu on 10-15-24
By: J. W. Ocker
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The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
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Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
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Orca
- How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator
- By: Jason M. Colby
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on interviews, official records, private archives, and his own family history, Jason M. Colby tells the exhilarating and often heartbreaking story of how people came to love the ocean's greatest predator.
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Gives you lots of information on whale events and people in the cetacean world.
- By Eric & Lexi on 09-21-24
By: Jason M. Colby
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A Small Furry Prayer
- Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life
- By: Steven Kotler
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Steven Kotler was 40 years old, single, and facing an existential crisis when he met Lila, a woman devoted to animal rescue. "Love me, love my dogs" was her rule, and Steven took it to heart. Spurred to move by a housing crisis in Los Angeles, Steven, Lila, and their eight dogs - then 10, then 20, and then they lost count - bought a postage-stamp-size farm in Chimayo, New Mexico....
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Great book
- By Shirley on 08-29-11
By: Steven Kotler
What listeners say about Wild Ones
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ian Evans
- 03-26-15
A Refreshing Take on Modern Conservation
It's all in the title. Mooallem's humor and philosophical musings on modern conservation come through in three stories about American Animals and the people doing their darndest to try to save them. It has helped me think about my own views on conservation, and all-in-all has become one of my favorites.
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- Dane
- 04-20-15
Inspired by the wild ones.
How on Earth should we human animals live; a collection of stories that outline the big picture with examples from few outstanding people focused on their respective little pictures.
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- Asmi
- 05-24-15
Really nice book, kinda drab narration
Loved the content of the book. The narration was a bit formal sounding, although the subject matter was so much fun at times
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- Zoe
- 01-20-14
Captivating and Fascinating
What did you love best about The Wild Ones?
Beautiful stories about our relationship to animals and nature in North America. I actually couldn't stop listening. The book is set up in a really nice way with main arching stories, and shorten anecdotes and story vignettes in between. I absolutely loved it.
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- Bonny
- 04-02-14
The line between conservation and domestication...
Wild Ones is one of the best non-fiction books I've read this year. I know it's only April, but I have a feeling that this book will still be a top contender at the end of the year. Jon Mooallem takes a look at the connections (or disconnections as the case may be) between the anthropomorphic animals that populate his four year-old daughter's world and the animals in the real world. He writes about three species that are at different points along the endangered species arc – polar bears, Lange's metalmark butterfly, and whooping cranes. What is so extraordinary about Wild Ones is that Mooallem doesn't write to scare, preach, or belittle his readers, but rather to provide a balanced look from many different perspectives and let readers reach their own conclusions.
“Just as we’re now causing the vast majority of extinctions, the vast majority of endangered species will only survive if we keep actively rigging the world around them in their favor. Scott and his colleagues gave those creatures’ condition a name: conservation-reliant. It means that, from here on out, we will increasingly be forced to cultivate the species we want, in places we protect and police just for them, perpetually rejiggering some asymmetrical balance to keep each one from sliding into extinction. We are gardening the wilderness. The line between conservation and domestication has blurred.”
What animals and plants are worth saving at all and who gets to decide? Wild Ones can be disturbing at times because it questions even our success stories, such as bald eagles, the California condor, and whooping cranes. Should we be bothered that extreme, expensive measures are required to keep many species from disappearing forever? Or should we be inspired that people are willing to do so much to keep the remaining few whooping cranes or condors around, even if the rescue of something in nature requires it to live out its days unnaturally? These are incredibly valuable questions to ask, and Mooallem does that brilliantly.
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5 people found this helpful
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- nick
- 12-28-15
Great
As with all environmental books. There is no hope for us. But that's ok because the characters in this book are fun and corky. Educational and a great listen
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- Lauren
- 07-22-18
Made me cry
As an academic writing on animal encounters, Mooallem has changed the way I think about nature and animals. I loved this book.
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- Hayley
- 10-15-19
Important book
This book is an accurate illustration of the modern "wild" and modern conser. The wild is not what we think anymore.
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- Diane
- 04-19-16
GREAT NON FICTION! Makes you think.
What did you love best about The Wild Ones?
It made me think about some things like baseline of generations.............
Have you listened to any of Fred Sanders’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
no
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The ridiculousness of Martha Stewart in the arctic!
Any additional comments?
Everyone should read this book.
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- Zachary
- 01-21-14
An engrossing story of conservation in America
The dialogue surrounding conservation in America tends to be presented as a war between ideological camps on the left-right ends of the political spectrum, with left-minded greens insisting that we must do everything at all costs to save any species we can, and conservative climate-change deniers refusing to accept the premise that our world is changing due to the role of modern humans.
The Wild Ones offers a nuanced view of a complicated issue, delving into the history of environmentalism and conservation in America (and Canada) through a series of case studies. What the author finds is that conservation is all too often a symbolic pursuit caught up in the symbol itself; we are caught wondering how we can engage with these animals in new contexts and still retain a meaning in our interactions with them.
The book is ultimately interested in how we use animals to tell stories about the world and about ourselves - what does it mean to be wild? The book is funny at times, grave at others, and thought-provoking throughout. In a rapidly changing world, it is important to consider what our role as the human animal can be, and should be.
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1 person found this helpful