Jon Mooallem, “Wild Ones” (Pengiun, 2013)

Jon Mooallem‘s book Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals In America (Penguin, 2013) is a tour of a few places on the North American continent where animal species are on the very brink of extinction. What emerges is as much a story about creatures clinging on in the Anthropocene as it is a story about humans clinging to their humanity by clinging to disappearing animals.

It is a book rich with humor, insight, history, sadness, hope, and the kind of ambiguity that makes you feel like beautiful things are still possible, despite the daily news.

Jon Mooallem is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, and he has also contributed to Harper’s, This American Life, Radiolab, The Believer, and Pop-Up Magazine.

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