AWI Quarterly Articles | Book and Film Reviews

Please see the below book and film reviews from past editions of the AWI Quarterly.

 

Animal Liberation Now

Animal Liberation Now: The Definitive Classic Renewed is the latest update to Peter Singer’s seminal 1975 book, Animal Liberation. While the facts and figures have been updated, the ultimate message has not changed significantly. Now...

Secrets of the Elephants

National Geographic’s newly released four-part docuseries, Secrets of the Elephants, streaming on Disney+, takes an in-depth look at the complex behaviors of elephants living in southern Asia and in savannas, rainforests, and the Namib Desert...

Beaverland

Part narrative, part reference source, Leila Philip’s Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America provides incredible information about beavers—from their physiology and behaviors to their entwined history with humankind in the United States and the...

Wild New World

Dan Flores’ Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America presents the story of extirpation in the United States—or more precisely, of humanity’s insatiable thirst for animals (and animal habitat).

Pests

Bethany Brookshire begins her engrossing book, Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains, with an eastern gray squirrel named “[expletive] Kevin” who is decimating her tomato plant. It is an illuminating anecdote, since Brookshire—an award-winning science...

A Warbler’s Journey

A Warbler’s Journey, written by Pennsylvania naturalist Scott Weidensaul and illustrated by Nancy Lane, is a beautiful and informative book. Through the travels of the yellow warbler, readers learn about the migratory path and the...

An Immense World

An elephant, a mouse, a robin, an owl, a bat, a rattlesnake, a spider, a mosquito, a bumblebee, and a human enter a school gym. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms...

In a Land of Awe

Dr. Chad Hanson’s In a Land of Awe: Finding Reverence in the Search for Wild Horses offers a sweeping vista of the wild horses that the author has come to know and cherish, particularly through...

The Swordfish Hunters

Thomas Armbruster / SandyHook SeaLife Foundation / 310 pages In The Swordfish Hunters: The Life, Death and Future of Xiphius gladius, marine biologist and physician Dr. Thomas Armbruster recounts in vivid detail his time spent...

The Social Lives of Animals

Dr. Ashley Ward is an engaging writer, with a Briton’s native wit. The best part of his book, The Social Lives of Animals, is his genuine fascination with the animal behavior he observes, but his...