Wild at Heart: America's Turbulent Relationship with Nature, from Exploitation to Redemption

by Alice Outwater

"Alice Outwater’s infectiously readable Wild at Heart captures the essence of ecology: Everything is connected, and every connection leads to ourselves." ―Alan Weisman, author, The World Without Us and Countdown

"A wonderful book. Information rich to say the least, and the indigenous human connections and portrait of the deep connectivity of nature, are both strong elements." ―Jim McClintock, author of A Naturalist Goes Fishing

Nature on the brink? Maybe not. With so much bad news in the world, we forget how much environmental progress has been made. In a narrative that reaches from Native American tribal practices to public health and commercial hunting, Wild at Heart shows how western attitudes towards nature have changed dramatically in the last five hundred years.

The Chinook gave thanks for King Salmon's gifts. The Puritans saw Nature as a frightening wilderness, full of "uncooked meat." With the industrial revolution, nature was despoiled and simultaneously celebrated as a source of the sublime. With little forethought and great greed, Americans killed the last passenger pigeon, wiped out the old growth forests, and dumped so much oil in the rivers that they burst into flame. But in the span of a few decades, our relationship with nature has evolved to a more sophisticated sense of interdependence that brings us full circle. Across the US, people are taking individual action, planting native species and fighting for projects like dam removal and wolf restoration. Cities are embracing nature, too.

Humans can learn from the past, and our choices today will determine whether nature survives. Like the First Nations, all nations must come to deep agreement that nature needs protection. This compelling book reveals both how we got here and our own and nature's astonishing ability to mutually regenerate.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Nature, Environment

352 pages, Hardcover

Published April 2, 2019

About the author

Alice Outwater grew up on Lake Champlain, in Vermont. She studied engineering at the University of Vermont and went to grad school at MIT to learn about water.
Outwater managed sludge for the Boston Harbor Clean-Up, and wrote The Reuse of Sludge and Minor Wastewater Residuals.  She wrote the much translated Cartoon Guide to the Environment with Larry Gonick. Water: A Natural History  was a Library Journal Science Book of the Year and a finalist for the PEN/New England award. She consults in water quality, and has lived on a farm since 1991, in Vermont, Hawaii and finally Colorado. 

Reviews

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this in-depth piece on exploitation and our environmental triumphs but as others have alluded to it tends to give the impression that the fight is over. Yes, we have made a lot of progress but we still have an awful long way to go until we treat animals as our equals. There is a lot of solid information here, and it certainly isn't as dry as it could've been; being a law graduate I found the discussion of laws and regulations interesting and Outwater highlights the slow evolution of the law to protect the environment. Of course, you can't consider animals and habitats in isolation as climate change and a multitude of other issues naturally come to the fore and are connected to ecology.

Wild at Heart is well worth your time if you're interested in ecology, our planet, animals and environmental issues, and I especially recommend to animal activists.

Many thanks to St Martin's Press for an ARC.

[Carolyn McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was going to be dry, but it is written in a conversational style that kept me reading well past when I should have shut the light off. I learned a great deal too, which is always a nice bonus.
I'm very glad I was chosen to read an ARC, so thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.
I'll definitely be buying a copy for a particular friend I know would enjoy it.

[Carla (Carla's Book Bits) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I consider myself to be quite a sentimental reader, but it really depends on the subject at hand. This book is for a sentimental reader, but not quite my brand or type.

Alice Outwater's Wild at Heart should've been a deep, fulfilling read for me. And I enjoy types of books like these. I love stories that aim to bring us closer to the earth and its inhabitants. The way that humans over-utilize our environment is something that hits me to the chest in a very personal way, and I love stories that shed light on that and how we can make things better. In every way, Wild at Heart should've been one of my favorite new releases in the realm of conversation nonfiction.

But I struggled with the writing style. I found myself going over and over paragraphs and sentences trying to make sense of the author's grammar and word usage. It just doesn't come naturally to me. Unfortunately, I couldn't do this for more than 50 pages so I just quit. As I said, there's a lot of sentiment and deliberation in these words, but maybe for me personally, that wasn't enough to make it my "soulmate" book or that "Ah-hah, I completely get you!" type of book. I've still given it 2 stars because I can see other people loving this, but it wasn't quite what scratches my itch.

Thank you NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jeff Garrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outwater has written a history of America’s relationship with nature, and how we have moved from seeing nature something to be conquered and tamed, to something with value to be preserved. She begins by discussing how several Native American tribes approached nature. The Hopi saw themselves as guardians of nature. The Abenaki sought balance with nature. And the Chinook gave thanks. I was beginning to think she was going back to an idea that we just had to go back to how the tribes lived, but that was not her purpose. Instead, she sat out the beginning of our thoughts about the environment. Then she moves on to discuss the idea of the “commons.” What isn’t owned by an individual, but is seen as owned by everyone and about to be exploited. At one time, land was seen in this way, until it was “claimed” and “used.” The air and the water, until more recently, was seen this way, which led to people dumping all kinds of stuff into his “common” space. But over time, we realized how it is all interrelated.

I found it interesting how the pollution of our rivers began as an attempt to “clean up” urban areas as we tried to get sewage out of the streets. Treatment centers came about relatively recently and have resulted in much cleaner rivers. The same is true for air.

I had a sense that she was attempting to make a political wake-up call for Republicans. From Teddy Roosevelt, to Nixon, Reagan, and the first Bush, she lifted up achievements in how they have worked toward or approved attempts to save wilderness, to clean water and air, to reduce acid rain and save the ozone layer, all which have been somewhat successful. But the danger of rolling back such gains for short term profits, as she has more recently seen, is problematic. Instead of being a doom-day prophet, she calls for rational approaches to the use of resources. She sees the removal of dams, the attempts to rebuild species that have been nearly wiped out by hunting or habitat loss, as positive signs that we can move quickly to address climate change.

This is a good book to understand how our views of nature has shifted over the years. I listened to the Audible version of this book.

[Barbara R. Heinrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it an informative and delightful read. Usually I don’t read non-fiction, yet I was interested in a deeper understanding of how we have historically approached nature. I found Alice Outwater’s book to be wonderfully written and a very accessible recounting of our attitudes towards nature from early times until now. Her discussion of our evolving views and how they have impacted our environment for better and for worse were captivating. Despite how much our current sad state of environmental affairs has been in the news, I was taken aback not only to learn other causes of the problem as well as ways that “catastrophic” problems had been resolved in the past. The author is cautiously optimistic about our ability to tackle environmental problems, which clearly goes against the norm, but she has some very interesting scientific examples to back it up. I highly recommend this book for a most thorough romp through the natural world.

[Cozy Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A interesting dissertation on our relationship to the environment and the damage we as humans have done. It is from the viewpoint of the past history of destruction to the planet and animals and how we can move forward. A good read for all concerned about the health of our planet . I recommend this reading for all environmentalists and those that wish to broaden their knowledge about how to save our planet and stop past destruction.

[sbtbkb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how succintly this book covered so many years and issues. My main issue was that positive impacts of laws and regulations were positioned as "problem solved". Environmental protection is an ongoing issue and a daily fight and from reading this one may think we're done.

[emma rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

more of a 4.5 tbh but i just have to give it 5 because let me just say…i genuinely enjoyed the act of reading this book so much like…it took me a long time to finish because it actually felt so educational and i was writing notes of things i wanted to look up after finishing a chapter or taking pictures of paragraphs i wanted to remember, there were so many moments in this book too where i was like i wanna learn more about that or i wanna read a book just on that and i absolutely LOVE when a book does that!!!!!!!!!!!
all that being said…i just have a couple things:
- the title tells us it’s about americas relationship with nature—however, often times she goes into great detail about european environmental history/outlook and while i didn’t always hate that i just wish then that we got to take a look at other countries attitudes and relationships with nature, like that to me really just encompasses this western tunnel vision or something or like nationalism almost? idk does that make sense?
- secondly i hate to be that guy butttttt there are just some parts where it’s a little too optimistic / it doesn’t fully dig into current nature issues like for example i think her belief that america has just started adoring predators feels like a little bit of a reach idk
- and lastly it started a little slow and there are multiple points where her writing rhythm is just…off ? like idk just places where the beats don’t exactly align or the syntax just doesn’t feel right but that’s me being a bit nit-picky i’m sure
and despite these few points i would recommend this book to everyone i know!!!!!!!!!!!! go read it now

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the land ever changing due to our human demands, the earth has continued to battle us. Constantly fighting us; from our lawns to gardens and bigger outfits like factory farming and just about everything that produces some kind of emission. We even have this illusion by making our lives easier with plastic bags, and our use of natural resources but that’s just an illusion. We’re harming our environment one day at a time and collectively we add to it’s demise. Even if one person does their due diligence and makes it to the garbage bin, there’s 10 more behind him who think it’s ok to dispose of trash while speeding down the highway.

What we fail to realize is that we’re all inter-connected. We’re riding frequencies and sharing energy that’s been around for as long as the earth and beyond. With this amazing read, you can dive into a beautiful book written to inspire and teach you more about the nature around us and how it’s so important to get back to nature, experience what’s around you, without technology. Ground yourself and get close enough to discover the tiny ecosystems flourishing all around you.

Thank you Alice Outwater, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy!

[Cayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wilderness has long been seen as a community of beings.

notes:

- On native-americans: The spirits that once inhabited their world are gone. (Hopi kachinas are supernatural beings—life forces of the cosmos—that embody the spirits of living things and affect various aspects of the natural world)
- The thankfulness of the Chinook, the reverence of the Hopi, and the restraint of the Abenaki reflect a relationship with nature that models the sustainable balance we are trying to create today.
- Judeo-Christianity, in contrast to pagan and Asian religions, established a dualism between humans and nature where humans have souls and the rest of the world does not. God created nature but was not part of it, and created humans in his image. The Old and New Testaments put people at the pinnacle of creation with dominion over nature, which was made for human use. Before biblical times, the spirits in natural objects had protected nature from humans. According to the Bible, humans held an effective monopoly on souls.
- Our dominion over nature was taken as the natural order until the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, which presented the uneasy reality that people could not hold themselves to be separate from nature. It took more than a century for people to fully embrace the concept that we are not a lot like animals; we actually are animals.
- Dogs live on the boundary between humans and wildness; they are a bridge between nature and human culture
- Wilderness was considered a dark and forbidding place full of wild tribes, the opposite of Eden, until the 1700s, when urban populations increased and people’s perceptions of nature changed. Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that humans in nature are uncorrupted, and that civilization brings vice. Instead of Satan’s home, wilderness was seen as an uninhabited temple of nature where God could be encountered directly. Nature and the ecstatic sublime were primary subjects of painters J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Cole, authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and poet William Wordsworth. Valuing nature became part of western culture.
- Our concept of nature has evolved over thousands of years. Wilderness as we know it today—empty, wild land that is protected from human intervention—is a cultural construct from the 1800s that includes the national myth of the frontier
- Wildness is something else entirely: it is the part of nature that is beyond human control. It is undomesticated and uncultivated. It is autonomous. Ecologically speaking, wildness is defined by how individuals are affected by natural selection. Modern civilization insulates us from disease, hunger, weather, and predation, and we live in cities—built environments—that further mitigate risk. We are not wild.
- "A person with a clear heart and open mind can experience the wilderness anywhere on earth. It is a quality of one’s own consciousness. The planet is a wild place and always will be."
- We now have the ability to destroy everything alive. We can kill the wildlife, manage the waterways, reshape the land, and pollute the air, land, and water.

chapter 3 on nature and health (!!)

[Joan Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A far-reaching study of nature and man’s encroachment. Sadly, much of history shows irreversible damage: extinction of species such as the notable passenger pigeon and many others including the near erasure of the buffalo. Besides, animals, many plants and insects have suffered: the mono-culture of agriculture in the Midwest reflects how soil and water are affected. Improvements in farming practices and ease of transportation, from canals to railroads to trucking reduced the need for manual labor and gave rise to a focus on efficiency. Outwater outlines a perilous story with a threatened future. Capitalism advances profit over protection of the earth itself and only time will tell if our world will have the capacity to recover.

[Mandy Applin Northwoods · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book ... from the cover: "America's turbulent relationship with nature, from exploitation to redemption". I'd argue that there is not really much of a redemption story to tell, and that the author took some massive liberties telling the "redemption" part. Maybe I just view things from more of a perspective of wishing for preservation, not a mediocre attempt at "conservation". Regardless, Alice Outwater does a good job of relating a ton of environmental history in this book, and is fair about relating the truth about the amount of killing and poisoning of wildlife hat has happened and continues to happen. Overall a good read, and definitely worth your time if you'd like a historical perspective of the environmental scene.

[Jared Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Off to a rocky start, the book starts out establishing a mindset on how humans and nature should interact through Native Americans. Once this rocky road is covered the book gets into a groove in explaining how American interactions with humans have changed over the centuries. That is where the book gets good, primarily focused on the incidents or disasters, that spurred a change in thinking and laws. Then towards the end of the book it looks at where these moments have shaped America and Americans

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible informational and endlessly engaging. This book made me want to tell everyone around me what I learned about the fascinating and constantly changing history of our culture's relationship with the environment. The first 75% is pretty depressing since we were crap at the environment until pretty recently. However, it ends on a very encouraging note, emphasizing how far we've come and how much nature has recovered.

[Jess Macallan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3. 5 stars

This book offers an informative look at our history with nature. The author uses thoughtful and sometimes painful examples of how we've shaped our environment and provides a framework for what we could continue to improve upon (needless to say, we've got serious work to do). At times, this book was difficult to get into, but I appreciated that it had an encouraging ending.

I received an e-copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Dina Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ecological history intertwined with the insight of someone who knows firsthand where we should be headed. This book should be on anyone's reading list that wants to understand how we as a nation got here in the first place and work on formulating their plan for sustainability within their own communities, families and self.

[Lexy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started reading via an ebook from the library, but only 3 chapters in I was highlighting so much that I decided to buy a hard copy.
The subtitle of this book exactly describes what it entails and kept my attention the whole time.

3.5/4?

[Natalie Herr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the premise, but only got half way through before it needed returning. Tough to get into.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - Couldn't make it through the intro.
Summary - Delightful, enlightened pagans thought trees had souls and then scary, evil, Christians came along and ruined the whole earth. The end.

[Brett Roebuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read on environmental history.

[KM · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good and detailed story on how we have used nature through recent history. The Industrial Age to now to be exact. Well worth a read.

[Anna Funk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read.

[Dylan Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild huh

[Lindsay Hiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great basic overview of the need for sustainability!

[Foggygirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, examines the chaotic history of human exploitation of nature in North America and the shift to a more balanced relationship.

[Lillian Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

How much more can our planet take? We seem so intent on destroying everything on our planet. We have had many successes through the centuries from finding cures to diseases but we have also created so many bad ones. We have taken land from the ones that it belonged to, cut down forests in the guise of advancement. We have almost destroyed the animal kingdom and believed that we have known better when it comes to what is best for them. We still have a long way to go before we can make any difference do we really have what it takes to save our planet? A good read did find it very long and some of it was very drawn out but it all makes sense to what our lives are right now. I received a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.