Never cry wolf

This is a humbling and chilling book. I don't know how, but Mowat in the course of this slim volume managed to write an incredibly readable book about government incompetence and savagery, biology, and a single expedition that reveals how humanity has made itself alien from the planet we presume to call home. Many of the conclusions made in this book are going to stay with me for a long time.

This is a really hard review to write, because I really enjoyed reading the book, but on looking into it further, discovered that it's not really what it presents itself to be.

It presents itself as a straightforward memoir of Mowat's few months in the Arctic observing a single wolf family. In the course of these observations, he sees behavior that completely upends the thought (at the time) that wolves are vicious, blood-thirsty killers.

But. Mowat has also acknowledged that it is not a straightforward, day-to-day, account. He said, “I took some pride in having it known that I never let facts get in the way of a good story. I was writing subjective non-fiction all along.”

So I give it three stars. I enjoyed reading it, but felt deceived by the author.

Great book. Trask and I listened to the audio version on our drive to LA and it was funny and touching. This strikes me as one of the early books taking a frank look at the effects of hunting on wildlife and also exposing the government's sanction of it.