A review by jnzllwgr
The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities by Peter S. Alagona

3.0

This started with the flavor of an apology for human impact on the environment, but ended some place much more measured, cautionary even. In short, other forms of life in the US were in pretty bad shape by the 1950s, and then it got better, but then in places it got worse again, revealing that the work is not done. And that work arguably privileges certain animals over many others. I don’t consider myself the most subtle reader, so if there was an aspirational edict that Alagona was striving to impart, it was not obvious. In fact, in its desire to remain a high-level, incomplete survey, focusing on a limited set of mammalian examples, it doesn’t really take any passionate stances that offers the reader an ethical clarity that might transform into their action. Sure, one’s own confirmation bias will read between the lines and choose whether to be a champion for all god’s creatures or…well, or just…”meh”. To be fair, the author acknowledges that there is little data collection and study on wildlife in urban contexts. So, perhaps the conclusion should be high praise for it being short and non-technical and if you’re looking for the shallow end to get acclimated to some waters on this topic, this is a decent place to start.