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My Life With Wolves: How I Became the Storyteller for the Yellowstone Packs
America’s most beloved wolf historian shares his long-awaited biography—a story filled with true grit, laughter, and love for America’s National Parks.
“There is literally no one else who could tell these stories.” NBC
“The chief historian of the most famous wolf population in the world.” Washington Post
“Like Darwin, McIntyre is an inclusionist and is thus able to enter the hearts and minds of wolves.” Mountain Journal
“Rick McIntyre is the ultimate guru of wolf behavior.” Jane Goodall
In this entertaining memoir, Rick McIntyre recounts his life spent amongst wild nature while working in the National Parks Service and shares the wisdom he has gained from spending nearly every day of his adult life in the presence of wolves.
McIntyre has calculated whether to outpace a grizzly or stand and face it. He has narrowly missed a charge by a moose. He has watched alpha wolves come up against each other in battles for territory—only to be surprised by their benevolent actions.
Throughout his career, McIntyre has used his experience in the great outdoors and through watching apex predators in the sights of his telescope to de-escalate fights between humans—even once helping to apprehend an armed man inside Yellowstone National Park by simply inviting him to his wolf talk later that evening.
This book chronicles Rick’s journey, explains his values, and brings readers up to date on the latest dramas of the Junction Butte pack in Yellowstone. Along the way, this tale is threaded through with Rick’s calm assertiveness in the face of conflict, his wise dealings with humans and animals alike, and his gentle sense of humor—like the time a woman excitedly thought she saw a grizzly bear through his telescope and Rick had to break it to her that what she saw was really an … Arctic ground squirrel.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published April 14, 2026
About the author
Rick McIntyre
21 books367 followersRick McIntyre is the acclaimed author of the Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone Book Series, which includes The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog and The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone's Legendary Druid Pack (coming October 2020). McIntyre is currently at work on the third book in the series, about Wolf 302. McIntyre has recorded over 100,000 sightings of wild wolves--which is more sightings than any other person in history--and has written more than 7 million words of wolf observations, making him one of the world's foremost experts on wild wolf behavior. He has been featured on NPR, 60 Minutes, the Washington Post, the podcast This is Love and his book, The Rise of Wolf 8, was an Amazon Best Science Book of the Year and selected as a Notable Book by the prestigious Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Awards.
McIntyre worked as a ranger naturalist and wolf researcher for the National Park Service for four decades including many years in Alaska's Denali National Park, where he first began to study wolves. In 1994 he became Yellowstone National Park's first Wolf Interpreter, educating thousands of park visitors each year on Yellowstone's now-famous Wolf Reintroduction Project, which sought to reintroduce wolves to the park after the last wolves were shot and killed by park rangers 60 years earlier, in the 1920s. One day, McIntyre observed one of the first reintroduced wolves--a small, unassuming pup, the runt of his litter--stand up to a grizzly bear to protect his brothers. Over the next few years, McIntyre watched the small pup grow into a powerful alpha male, whose acts of bravery, loyalty, and kindness impressed McIntyre so much that he made him the subject of his first book, The Rise of Wolf 8. McIntyre profiles Wolf 8's equally remarkable adopted son in The Reign of Wolf 21.
In 1998, McIntyre transferred to the Wolf Reintroduction Project full-time and helped with research on the park's wolf population. He continued to work with the public by presenting talks along the roadside and showing visitors the wolves through his telescope. McIntyre retired from the National Park Service in 2018 to focus on his books, however, he continues to observe the Yellowstone wolves on an almost-daily basis, rain or shine. He lives in Silver Gate, Montana.
McIntyre worked as a ranger naturalist and wolf researcher for the National Park Service for four decades including many years in Alaska's Denali National Park, where he first began to study wolves. In 1994 he became Yellowstone National Park's first Wolf Interpreter, educating thousands of park visitors each year on Yellowstone's now-famous Wolf Reintroduction Project, which sought to reintroduce wolves to the park after the last wolves were shot and killed by park rangers 60 years earlier, in the 1920s. One day, McIntyre observed one of the first reintroduced wolves--a small, unassuming pup, the runt of his litter--stand up to a grizzly bear to protect his brothers. Over the next few years, McIntyre watched the small pup grow into a powerful alpha male, whose acts of bravery, loyalty, and kindness impressed McIntyre so much that he made him the subject of his first book, The Rise of Wolf 8. McIntyre profiles Wolf 8's equally remarkable adopted son in The Reign of Wolf 21.
In 1998, McIntyre transferred to the Wolf Reintroduction Project full-time and helped with research on the park's wolf population. He continued to work with the public by presenting talks along the roadside and showing visitors the wolves through his telescope. McIntyre retired from the National Park Service in 2018 to focus on his books, however, he continues to observe the Yellowstone wolves on an almost-daily basis, rain or shine. He lives in Silver Gate, Montana.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 1, 2026
As usual, Mr. McIntyre tells an engrossing story from start to finish and gives great insight not only into his story but to the wolves he has shared with us for so long. I am grateful to him as I don't think I will ever make it to Yellowstone or see a wolf in the wild. Through his books, I feel like I have.
June 24, 2026
rick mcintyre is an absolutely fascinating man. i’ve had the privilege to speak with him multiple times at work and feel it’s an honor to share yellowstone with him. he’s done, and continues to do amazing work for wolves. yellowstone is lucky to have him
Did Not Finish
August 5, 2026DNF at 21%. While I have absolutely adored all the books he’s written about wolves, this one did not capture me from the outset. While it’s about his life, and I made it to his early adulthood, I found it was largely filled with remarks on well-known events that punctuated his adolescence, and those felt rather rote. I think I was also rubbed the wrong way by his generational remarks—to paraphrase—that all the tumult of the 60s created compassionate people concerned with justice—which may be true for the author, but I would argue is largely untrue for many boomers, considering the political hellscape we’re currently living through. I’d love to hear more about his time with the wolves of Yellowstone, however, so maybe I can come back to this in the future.
August 13, 2026
4.5 stars
This was another great one from Rick McIntyre. This time we finally get to hear Rick’s story. He tells some corny stories when he was a kid, then talks about his time in college and then his time working for the national forest service where he got to fight fires.
It was interesting to hear his story about taking seasonal jobs at national parks, monuments, and forests until he ended up working summers at Denali, and this is where the book gets really good.
He tells his wildlife observations about ground squirrels, moose, bears like Stony, and of course wolves.
We learn how he ended up in Yellowstone and he tells the story of wolf 907 in classic Rick fashion. I love all of his books and I hope he never stops writing.
This was another great one from Rick McIntyre. This time we finally get to hear Rick’s story. He tells some corny stories when he was a kid, then talks about his time in college and then his time working for the national forest service where he got to fight fires.
It was interesting to hear his story about taking seasonal jobs at national parks, monuments, and forests until he ended up working summers at Denali, and this is where the book gets really good.
He tells his wildlife observations about ground squirrels, moose, bears like Stony, and of course wolves.
We learn how he ended up in Yellowstone and he tells the story of wolf 907 in classic Rick fashion. I love all of his books and I hope he never stops writing.
May 6, 2026
Another great book from McIntyre. I think the title might be a bit misleading as it’s not really about his life with the Yellowstone wolves, but more about his life in general. It ends with stories of his journey with the wolves.
August 3, 2026
If the book had been accurately titled I would have either appreciated it more instead of wondering what I was reading, or I just wouldn't have read it. He spent 30 years observing wolves but only included them in the last 20% of the book.
August 15, 2026
Interesting, easy read about McIntyre 's life as a park ranger. His work with the wolves was especially good.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews