Finalist for thePEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Winner of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award
“A must read for all Americans, whether you are a farmer or rancher, a suburban or city folk.” —Mother Earth News
"Captivating. Dan Flores looks at a creature whose howl sent shivers down the spines of generations of farmers and ranchers. They responded by waging war on an animal that not only refused to disappear, but began showing up in places like Central Park. The coyote turns out to be the Road Runner in disguise, and is having the last laugh after all. A masterly synthesis of scientific research and personal observation."—Wall Street Journal
"[An] engaging study."—New Yorker
"[An] absorbing book.... The coyote stories in this book are among the best, and Flores is a master storyteller."—Natural History
“Fascinating… essential literature in university courses on environmental studies, wildlife management, and general ecology and public policy. This book will appeal to ecologists as well as to a general audience seeking to better understand how modern humans have treated coyotes and build a new paradigm for a reformed and more holistic vision of how to manage coyotes with respect and compassion… A copy of Coyote America should be given to all legislators to help in making informed and more cost-efficient and humane wildlife policies.” —Ecology
“A must-read book if you are interested in knowing more about this persecuted critter, revered by Native Americans long before the settlers arrived.” —Virginian Pilot
"Compassionate and captivating."—Christian Science Monitor
“[A] fascinating scientific and cultural history.... Deft prose and wide-ranging research do their part to carry Flores through the grimmer chapters of his narrative.... Whatever the coyote may still be wanting, that list no longer includes a book to do it justice.” —New Mexico Magazine
“It is often impossible to separate how animals behave ‘wild’ from how they behave around humans. Coyotes are a startling example.... Historian Dan Flores has fun describing how coyotes make a mockery of our attempts to put nature in order: ‘It turns out, the coyote really is The Dude, and The Dude absolutely abides.’” —New Scientist
“Historian Flores has written about the American West for decades, so it’s no surprise his gaze should turn to the region’s scrappy mascot. Over the past 500 years, the original desert-dweller has expanded its territory as far north as Alaska, south into the tropics and deep into many cities. That ubiquity has created a host of problems for both the animal and its neighbors, human and otherwise. Flores captures all sides of the situation in this detailed portrait of an American icon.” —Discover
“Wide-ranging, engaging, informative… Flores is both a fine scholar and a most engaging writer. He argues most persuasively that we need to learn to live with coyote and the other beings with which we share this earth.” —National Parks Traveler
"A beautifully readable and meticulously researched book."—Forbes.com
“The coyote should have been TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. This deeply engrossing study is part scientific, part mythological, and part personal observation. It is fully fascinating.” —Lit Hub
“In a straightforward style, the author unpacks the myths and urban legends surrounding the coyote and conveys his admiration and respect for this incredibly intelligent predator.... Highly recommended for natural history enthusiasts interested in moving beyond the conventional wisdom about coyotes to gain a deeper understanding of their presence in our midst.”—Library Journal
“Flores’s mix of edification and entertainment is a welcome antidote to a creature so often viewed with fear.” —Pulishers Weekly
"A spirited blend of history, anthropology, folklore, and biology that is capable of surprises.... Well written throughout and just the right length, Flores’ book makes a welcome primer for living in a land in which coyotes roam freely – in, that is to say, the Coyote America of his title.”—Kirkus
“As I was reading Coyote America by Dan Flores, a coyote walked through our backyard. Magic occurs in these pages.” —Terry Tempest Williams, author of the New York Times best-selling The Hour of Land, Refuge, When Women Were Birds, and Erosion
“Dan Flores’s Coyote America is an utterly fascinating look at the life and range of Canis latrans. It brilliantly blends environmental history with old-fashioned storytelling. Flores is a master of the American West and a personal hero. A must read!”—Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of the New York Times bestseller, American Moonshot, and The Wilderness Warrior
“A biologist once told me, ‘When the last man dies, a coyote will be howling over his grave.’ This splendid book makes it clear why that’s true, and why the persistent, enduring wildness of this remarkable neighbor should give us great delight.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author of Wandering Home, Eaarth, The End of Nature, and Deep Economy
“In this brilliant book, Flores traces the wane and wax of the coyote. Their story is interwoven with our story, but it is also like our story, that of a species that has faced challenges and overcome them. Read this book if you want to understand the wild canids among us and also, perhaps, a little bit more about yourself.” —Rob Dunn, author of Never Home Alone and A Natural History of the Future
“With a deft blend of science and history, Dan Flores shows us the coyote as trickster, survivor, and, ultimately, a reflection of ourselves. Coyote America paints a vivid and long overdue portrait of an iconic animal. It’s a terrific book.” —Thor Hanson, author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, Buzz, The Triumph of Seeds, Feathers, and The Impenetrable Forest
“Think of Coyote America as a biography of our continent’s most enigmatic and successful predator, but don’t stop there. It is also a meditation, eloquent and insightful, on our relationship to wildlife, to nature, and even to our national culture. When you’ve read it, you won’t sing the book’s praises, you’ll howl them.” ——William deBuys, author of The Last Unicorn and A Great Aridness
“A wily writer meets his natural subject. With erudition, pathos, and seductive humor, Dan Flores tells coyote stories that expose the animalism of Americans, and humans everywhere. The pleasure of his book is the cross-species love of being alive.” —Jared Farmer, author of Trees in Paradise: A California History
04/04/2016
Flores (American Serengeti), emeritus professor of Western history at the University of Montana, looks at the coyote and its history on the North American continent in this educational volume. Having lived for a decade in the piñon-juniper mesas south of Santa Fe, N.Mex., “the evolutionary heartland of America’s native canines,” Flores considers the coyote’s howl “the original national anthem of North America”—one that dates back “nearly 1 million years.” He traces the animal’s roots, giving lessons on both physiology and mythology. “As a literary character,” Flores notes, the coyote is a “complex figure full of nuances of all sorts” as well as a “trickster who is forever falling for the oldest trick in the book.” Flores also presents accounts of coyotes in urban environments and their depictions in pop culture. For example, in Chicago during the 2007 heat wave, a coyote walked into a sandwich shop and jumped onto a freezer to cool down, to the surprise and amusement of employees and customers. Similarly, considerations of fictional characters such as Wile E. Coyote, introduced by Warner Bros. in 1949, provide entertaining counterpoints to the coyote’s status as “North America’s oldest surviving deity.” Flores’s mix of edification and entertainment is a welcome antidote to a creature so often viewed with fear. Illus. Agent: Melissa Chinchillo, Fletcher & Co. (June)
04/15/2016
Whether referred to as a "prairie wolf," "desert dog," or "junior wolf," the coyote is an exceptionally resilient canine that has spread from its original territory in the deserts of the Southwest to every state in the continental United States and now thrives in some of our largest cities. Flores (emeritus, Western U.S. history, Univ. of Montana; American Serengeti; The Natural West) considers the animal from several perspectives: its evolutionary history and the biological adaptations that have enabled it to endure decades of brutal persecution, as well as its once-prominent status as a deity in a number of Native American cultural traditions. In a straightforward style, the author unpacks the myths and urban legends surrounding the coyote and conveys his admiration and respect for this incredibly intelligent predator. VERDICT This title would make an excellent companion to Hope Ryden's God's Dog and Shreve Stockton's The Daily Coyote and is highly recommended for natural history enthusiasts interested in moving beyond the conventional wisdom about coyotes to gain a deeper understanding of their presence in our midst.—Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ
2016-04-07
A thoughtful study of Canis latrans, that quintessential North American mammal."The coyote is a kind of special Darwinian mirror, reflecting back insights about ourselves as fellow mammals." So writes historian Flores (Emeritus, Western History/Univ. of Montana; American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains, 2016, etc.) from his perch outside Santa Fe, where, he fondly recounts, he lives within howling distance of any number of the song dogs. Many urbanites have assumed it to be an invader of ecological niches that has been colonizing cities only recently owing to an annihilation of its wild habitat. They are to be forgiven, given that Los Angeles alone is estimated to harbor 5,000 coyotes, forcing Angelenos to "go Aztec and learn to live with them." However, writes the author, the coyote has long been a fixture of human settlements in North America, drawn to them by "our close fellow travelers, the mice and rats that flourish around and among us in profusion." That more coyotes are being seen in Chicago buses and on rooftops in Queens would seem to be more a function of there being more ways to report on their movements, since coyotes have been merrily swimming across the Mississippi for millennia as well. Flores' portrait sometimes carries over into outright advocacy on issues such as bounty killing to control coyote numbers, but on the whole, it is a spirited blend of history, anthropology, folklore, and biology that is capable of surprises; for instance, Flores writes in detail of a kind of coexistence among wolves and coyotes, supposedly traditional enemies, that has emerged in places like Yellowstone, even as the return of Canis lupus from the brink of extinction has come as a bit of future shock for the smaller canids. Well written throughout and just the right length, Flores' book makes a welcome primer for living in a land in which coyotes roam freely—in, that is to say, the Coyote America of his title.
