A review by asab27
Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction by Michelle Nijhuis

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, it covers a lot of the (mostly) western history of conservation. Even working in ecology/biology/conservation there was a lot I did not know. I wish it was longer (the size of the book is misleading as the last 70 pages are all notes and sourced) and more in depth, but I suppose it is difficult to cover an entire history. I particularly thought it was important that the author did not gloss over the problematic ideas of many early conservationists. If we are going to move forward and make conservation more inclusive we need to reckon with the problematic beliefs of the (mostly) men who founded the discipline. The only slight negative is that I thought the last two or so chapters were a bit all over the place and jumped around too quickly.