Michelle Nijhuis discussed Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, her vibrant history of the modern conservation movement seen through the lives and ideas of the people who built it, in conversation with Oliver Milman. Through engaging storytelling and firsthand accounts of contemporary species preservation, Nijhuis shares biographical portraits of those who began the fight to save animals from extinction, traces the development of conservation biology, and confronts the darker side of conservation, shadowed by racism and colonialism.
Watch the video from this event:
“As Leopold, in one of his grimmer moods, wrote to a friend, ‘That the situation is hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best.’ ”
Michelle Nijhuis, Beloved Beasts
“An environmental history that is essential reading for anyone committed to preserving life on Earth.” —Jason Mark, Sierra Club
“[An] exceptionally comprehensive and enlightening history of conservation.” —Booklist, starred review
“From the origin of the concept of species through the CRISPR revolution, Beloved Beasts is at once thoughtful and thought-provoking—a crucial addition to the literature of our troubled time.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction
