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…
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...
These Blue Mountains
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…
Want books like The Lost Wolves of Japan?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Lost Wolves of Japan.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,395
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Lost Wolves of Japan, you might also like...
Need to Know
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
Tsunami
On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…
