Book cover of The Lost Wolves of Japan

Book description

Many Japanese once revered the wolf as Oguchi no Magami, or Large-Mouthed Pure God, but as Japan began its modern transformation wolves lost their otherworldly status and became noxious animals that needed to be killed. By 1905 they had disappeared from the country. In this spirited and absorbing narrative, Brett…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Lost Wolves of Japan as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I grew up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and developed a love of nature at an early age.

I always found it sad that timber wolves had been hunted to extinction in the region. (Thankfully, they have made a comeback in recent years.) Later, as a historian, I was fascinated to learn that wolves had similarly been driven extinct in the Japanese islands. 

This book is the definitive account of how that happened. Yes, it’s an academic work written by a professor, but it is also extremely well written and tells a clear story that anyone interested in human impact…

From Bruce's list on Japanese environmental history.

If you love The Lost Wolves of Japan...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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