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Arctic Wild: The Remarkable True Story of One Couple's Adventure Among Wolves
Tells the story of naturalists Herb and Lois Crisler, who, in the early 1950s, spent 18 months in Alaska's Brooks Range, hand-rearing wolves for the filming of a Walt Disney documentary. Amazing b&w photos of wolves romping with humans complement loving descriptions of these peaceful animals. This edition contains a new foreword. Lois Crisler was an instructor at the University of Washington. First published in 1956 by The Curtis Publishing Company. Lacks a subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
301 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 5, 2018
I don’t think I have ever felt so conflicted about a book before. This book contains everything I love to read about: the wolves, the caribou, the arctic wilderness, and the extraordinary spirit for adventures that is still unrivaled by modern-day expeditions. And yet, the essence of their journey was tainted by their unethical practices with regards to human-animal interactions. This should have warrented an angry book review long ago, as I did with the book Grizzly Heart, but my own weakness towards anything wolf-related prevailed.
I did not understand who in their right mind would believe it being acceptable to abduct a litter of wolf puppies and raise them as pets for photo journaling purposes? It would not have been okay for any reason whatsoever. And they took two litters in total. I was absolutely appalled. Not to mention their trip up the Arctic was based on the author’s husband’s contract with Walt Disney to document the arctic wilderness, particularly the wolves and the caribou. Wouldn’t what they did cast a shadow over the authenticity of the product delivered? I suppose in a consumeristic society, the means can always be justified as long as the results are satisfactory.
This book frustrated me throughout its entirety because the author and her husband clearly thought they had the rein over all animals that came in their way. Though disguised as nature-loving, they were very pompous as humans beings. They took litters of wolf puppies with the intent to cull before they return home as they knew that these wolves would not be able to survive in their natural environment. They encouraged their wolf pets to chase the caribou so they could capture the scene on film. They kept but mishandled a previously abused sled dog, which resulted in unnecessary harm to the wolf puppies. They kept two wolverines in captivity, again, for photography purposes. It seemed to me that these desultory ways of animal treatment and casual attitude were fairly common amongst all nature-interacting and animal-handling people back in the 50’s and the 60’s. I hope we have moved away from that mentality by now.
Ah, the wonder of wolves. That’s what troubled me about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s detailed and very much anthropomorphic descriptions of the wolves. The wolves individual character came alive in this book and I grew to care about and to feel for them. Also, the author’s description about the arctic scenery and the snow reminded me of Philip Pullman’s North and “dust” in His Dark Material Trilogy. I adore those books as well as the universe within. This, is why we have biases.
I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. It’s a horrendous lovely book. Read it at your own risk.
I did not understand who in their right mind would believe it being acceptable to abduct a litter of wolf puppies and raise them as pets for photo journaling purposes? It would not have been okay for any reason whatsoever. And they took two litters in total. I was absolutely appalled. Not to mention their trip up the Arctic was based on the author’s husband’s contract with Walt Disney to document the arctic wilderness, particularly the wolves and the caribou. Wouldn’t what they did cast a shadow over the authenticity of the product delivered? I suppose in a consumeristic society, the means can always be justified as long as the results are satisfactory.
This book frustrated me throughout its entirety because the author and her husband clearly thought they had the rein over all animals that came in their way. Though disguised as nature-loving, they were very pompous as humans beings. They took litters of wolf puppies with the intent to cull before they return home as they knew that these wolves would not be able to survive in their natural environment. They encouraged their wolf pets to chase the caribou so they could capture the scene on film. They kept but mishandled a previously abused sled dog, which resulted in unnecessary harm to the wolf puppies. They kept two wolverines in captivity, again, for photography purposes. It seemed to me that these desultory ways of animal treatment and casual attitude were fairly common amongst all nature-interacting and animal-handling people back in the 50’s and the 60’s. I hope we have moved away from that mentality by now.
Ah, the wonder of wolves. That’s what troubled me about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s detailed and very much anthropomorphic descriptions of the wolves. The wolves individual character came alive in this book and I grew to care about and to feel for them. Also, the author’s description about the arctic scenery and the snow reminded me of Philip Pullman’s North and “dust” in His Dark Material Trilogy. I adore those books as well as the universe within. This, is why we have biases.
I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. It’s a horrendous lovely book. Read it at your own risk.
April 13, 2020
Lois and Herb Crisler spent 18 months in the Alaskan Arctic, filming caribou migration and rearing 7 wolf pups (for the infamous White Wilderness docu.)
(Trigger and Lady, the first two of the Crislers' wolves)
It was one of the first books about wolves, and the first non-scientific account of living with them. The positive portrayal was not lost on the audience, I'm sure (it came before Never Cry Wolf.) But it was also... well, disturbing. Some parts of it at least.
Arctic Wild reminded me of Wolves at Our Door: The Extraordinary Story of the Couple Who Lived with Wolves, but between the two I'd go for the third option: Three Among the Wolves: A Couple and Their Dog Live a Year with Wolves in the Wild, for they didn't employ captivity, unlike the Crislers and the Dutchers.
I didn't exactly love Crisler's writing, but it was hard not to enjoy the parts about the wolves. 3.75*
(Trigger and Lady, the first two of the Crislers' wolves)
It was one of the first books about wolves, and the first non-scientific account of living with them. The positive portrayal was not lost on the audience, I'm sure (it came before Never Cry Wolf.) But it was also... well, disturbing. Some parts of it at least.
Arctic Wild reminded me of Wolves at Our Door: The Extraordinary Story of the Couple Who Lived with Wolves, but between the two I'd go for the third option: Three Among the Wolves: A Couple and Their Dog Live a Year with Wolves in the Wild, for they didn't employ captivity, unlike the Crislers and the Dutchers.
I didn't exactly love Crisler's writing, but it was hard not to enjoy the parts about the wolves. 3.75*
September 6, 2016
This is not the edition I read - but I can't find the edition I read here and I'm too lazy to input it. The one I read had a forward by A. Leopold. Not as dry as I anticipated. Some actions shocked me from a conservation standpoint, but as one reviewer noted, a lot has changed since 1958. More about wolves than I expected. It was nice to escape to AK for a while.
June 1, 2008
I Absolutely LOVED and ADORED this book. It's a amazing story of a women with a passion for wolfs.
Wonderfully written.
Wonderfully written.
September 28, 2023
Hoo boy, this was unpleasant.
What I expected: An account of how the author and her husband lived in Alaska for a while to film the wild fauna there for a documentary.
What I did not expect: A painful amount of abuse and mistreatment of animals robbed from the wild (and thus a normal life), shoved onto chains or into a pen so the Lois' husband could film them for documentary purposes.
Yes, this book is old. I get it. Different standards regarding the use of animals for media back then and all that. But that does not make this okay. That does not mean that this isn't animal mistreatment.
Also, I really gotta question the credibility of Lois and her husband as documentary makers (or, camera people for a documentary, I guess). I know Disney (who they were filming this for) already has come under scrutiny for their White Wilderness (which I presume is the documentary this was filmed for, though the documentary is never mentioned by name) for their mistreatment of the lemmings and inaccurate depictions of lemming migrations and a staged scene of a polar bear falling down a hill.
But like, I feel that the stuff with these wolf pups belongs on that list of Disney documentary scrutiny as well. Lois and her husband adopted two wolf pups which were forcefully taken from the wild (their parents killed, their three siblings not surviving) and raised them as pets, keeping them in small pens or even just chaining them up. The pups, Lady and Trigger, never even got the chance at a normal life as wolves and died as young adults, all because Crisler and her husband couldn't be bothered to film actual wild wolves doing wild wolf things. How are we supposed to see the documentary they were filming for as reputable if they just blatantly stage shit with captive animals?
They later on end up adopting two wolverines, an abused sled dog and yet another litter of five wolf pups taken from the wild (and again most of which end up dying except for one. Not mentioned within this book itself, but you can do the background check by googling a few things).
The appalling treatment of the animals and the lack of reputability of the Crislers as documentary makers aside, I also found Lois' writing voice to be dull and slow. Instead of being transported to Alaska and feeling like I was experiencing these events with her, it felt like it was being narrated to me in boring and slow prose.
If there's anything I can give this book credit for (and the reason for two stars rather than one), it's that this book, for the time when it came out, was a very rare positive portrayal of wolves. Remember, they were still widely hated around this time, so book like this and Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf at least did some good by not portraying them as monstrous killing machines. As badly as the wolf pups are treated in this book, at least Crisler never portrays them very negatively and I can imagine that for someone reading this at the time this could've been an eye-opener as to wolves not being murderous monsters like was a common misconception at the time.
I don't think what the Crislers did with the wolves was a good thing, of course, keeping wild-caught pups as pets, especially under these bad and unnatural conditions, but at least they wrote about the animals positively which was a bit of a novelty around this time.
But again, that doesn't negate the dull writing voice, the painful-to-read treatment of the animals who were forcefully taken from the wild, and of course the fact that this book made me absolutely disrespect the Crislers as documentary makes because it just ruins their own reputability. If you want to get your ass out there in Alaska to film wolves and caribou, by all means, do that. But film the real deal. Real, wild wolves. Real, wild caribou. Not whatever the fuck they were doing here.
What I expected: An account of how the author and her husband lived in Alaska for a while to film the wild fauna there for a documentary.
What I did not expect: A painful amount of abuse and mistreatment of animals robbed from the wild (and thus a normal life), shoved onto chains or into a pen so the Lois' husband could film them for documentary purposes.
Yes, this book is old. I get it. Different standards regarding the use of animals for media back then and all that. But that does not make this okay. That does not mean that this isn't animal mistreatment.
Also, I really gotta question the credibility of Lois and her husband as documentary makers (or, camera people for a documentary, I guess). I know Disney (who they were filming this for) already has come under scrutiny for their White Wilderness (which I presume is the documentary this was filmed for, though the documentary is never mentioned by name) for their mistreatment of the lemmings and inaccurate depictions of lemming migrations and a staged scene of a polar bear falling down a hill.
But like, I feel that the stuff with these wolf pups belongs on that list of Disney documentary scrutiny as well. Lois and her husband adopted two wolf pups which were forcefully taken from the wild (their parents killed, their three siblings not surviving) and raised them as pets, keeping them in small pens or even just chaining them up. The pups, Lady and Trigger, never even got the chance at a normal life as wolves and died as young adults, all because Crisler and her husband couldn't be bothered to film actual wild wolves doing wild wolf things. How are we supposed to see the documentary they were filming for as reputable if they just blatantly stage shit with captive animals?
They later on end up adopting two wolverines, an abused sled dog and yet another litter of five wolf pups taken from the wild (and again most of which end up dying except for one. Not mentioned within this book itself, but you can do the background check by googling a few things).
The appalling treatment of the animals and the lack of reputability of the Crislers as documentary makers aside, I also found Lois' writing voice to be dull and slow. Instead of being transported to Alaska and feeling like I was experiencing these events with her, it felt like it was being narrated to me in boring and slow prose.
If there's anything I can give this book credit for (and the reason for two stars rather than one), it's that this book, for the time when it came out, was a very rare positive portrayal of wolves. Remember, they were still widely hated around this time, so book like this and Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf at least did some good by not portraying them as monstrous killing machines. As badly as the wolf pups are treated in this book, at least Crisler never portrays them very negatively and I can imagine that for someone reading this at the time this could've been an eye-opener as to wolves not being murderous monsters like was a common misconception at the time.
I don't think what the Crislers did with the wolves was a good thing, of course, keeping wild-caught pups as pets, especially under these bad and unnatural conditions, but at least they wrote about the animals positively which was a bit of a novelty around this time.
But again, that doesn't negate the dull writing voice, the painful-to-read treatment of the animals who were forcefully taken from the wild, and of course the fact that this book made me absolutely disrespect the Crislers as documentary makes because it just ruins their own reputability. If you want to get your ass out there in Alaska to film wolves and caribou, by all means, do that. But film the real deal. Real, wild wolves. Real, wild caribou. Not whatever the fuck they were doing here.
August 20, 2024
This book was horrible. It was incredibly boring, racism and inhumane - I recognize that this was written in a different time and that ideas about wildlife were different but jesus. This author's ego bleeds through every single page, every single decision and she washes it down with some old-fashioned racism: the author spends LITERAL PAGES belittling the eskimo people, claiming her fancy "white" husband is so much better in so many ways then these men who "shoot animals indiscriminately and with poor aim" and who hunt wolves for money, when all of this book leads to her husband literally stealing 5 pups from a den so he can take photos of them - planning that they would HAVE to be killed at the end of that because they won't know how to survive on their own. Talk about something that is obviously cruel and disgusting. They paint themselves like gods and they mess with animal lives for their own pleasure and entertainment. Wolves are incredibly social animals and removing the pups from their pack was nothing short of cruel to the wolves. Do yourself a favor and don't read this if you like animals; this should stop being printed.
July 31, 2019
Actually much better than I expected. The description of their couple years raising wild wolf pups was captivating, informative, and really indicates how smart wolves really are. A quick read as it kept you going looking to see how things turned out.
June 4, 2022
I had to remind myself this was written 70 years ago so some of the things done, such as taking wolf pups from their den to tame, was acceptable practice back then. It was an amazing account how these folks lived year round in the Arctic.
July 15, 2016
Lois Crisler and her husband spent 18 months living in the wild on the arctic tundra as part of a wildlife documentary film assignment, photographing and filming caribou migrations and raising two litters of free range (more or less) wolf pups stolen for them by Eskimos.
It is a slow book… I initially found Lois’ writing style unfocused and chatty, chronicling practical preparations and circumstances and not really getting to a point. Even the occasional danger-charged visits by roaming grizzlies seemed tedious. I’m not complaining about it, I think the pragmatism and slowness realistically reflects the character of such a journey, but I must admit I skipped through some of the first 75 pages, bored.
Once Lois and Cris get their first two wolf pups and situate in their desolate tundra camp, a unique and intensely quiet story unfolds, stunningly beautiful in its vivid descriptions of the seasonal transformations of the tundra and the everyday life and death dramas of its wild inhabitants that otherwise take place largely unobserved by humans. Reading it was almost like being there, overwhelmed by the Big freezing darkness, chronic snow storms that aren’t really snowstorms, and Northern Lights.
The essence of the story is the couple’s bond with and growing understanding of their adopted wolf pups that run free on the tundra (eventually), travel and hunt and get themselves in trouble like wild wolves do. These observations, musing and overcoming of merciless obstacles, along with the photographic documentation, provide a unique and intense insight into wolves’ natural behaviour which pioneered the understanding of wolf behaviour in their time and perhaps still do, although much more is known about wolves in the wild today.
The book is captivating and brilliant and brings unique insight from a highly unusual and personal perspective.
That said, there are also things about the book I don’t like. Lois’ emotional and dreamy prose worried me at times and seemed naive or even irresponsible; some of the couple’s choices seem to bring predictable ethical challenges that I don’t understand they didn’t prepare for ahead of time, since they clearly are people who care about consequences, and in many ways relate to the wolves as if they were their adopted children.
At times it was as if the story was the top of the iceberg of an underlying epic drama between good & evil; or between the brilliance of the Wild VS the mediocrity of Civilisation. I didn’t like Lois’ “spiritualising” of the wolves, and her scarcely concealed contempt for dogs. The wolves are shining free spirits, the dogs the pity slaves of civilisation; their spirit corrupted and their hearts “fierce” (whereas the wolves’ hearts are “gentle”)… according to Lois.
It is a black and white world view which doesn’t benefit the animals or Lois’ decision making capabilities or ability to make observe animals objectively (and she clearly doesn’t know much about dogs).
In conclusion, Arctic Wild is a unique true story definitely worth reading for its deep personal insights into wolf behaviour and everyday wildlife on the arctic tundra, while it is also in some ways unsettling irrational and should be taken with a grain of salt.
It is a slow book… I initially found Lois’ writing style unfocused and chatty, chronicling practical preparations and circumstances and not really getting to a point. Even the occasional danger-charged visits by roaming grizzlies seemed tedious. I’m not complaining about it, I think the pragmatism and slowness realistically reflects the character of such a journey, but I must admit I skipped through some of the first 75 pages, bored.
Once Lois and Cris get their first two wolf pups and situate in their desolate tundra camp, a unique and intensely quiet story unfolds, stunningly beautiful in its vivid descriptions of the seasonal transformations of the tundra and the everyday life and death dramas of its wild inhabitants that otherwise take place largely unobserved by humans. Reading it was almost like being there, overwhelmed by the Big freezing darkness, chronic snow storms that aren’t really snowstorms, and Northern Lights.
The essence of the story is the couple’s bond with and growing understanding of their adopted wolf pups that run free on the tundra (eventually), travel and hunt and get themselves in trouble like wild wolves do. These observations, musing and overcoming of merciless obstacles, along with the photographic documentation, provide a unique and intense insight into wolves’ natural behaviour which pioneered the understanding of wolf behaviour in their time and perhaps still do, although much more is known about wolves in the wild today.
The book is captivating and brilliant and brings unique insight from a highly unusual and personal perspective.
That said, there are also things about the book I don’t like. Lois’ emotional and dreamy prose worried me at times and seemed naive or even irresponsible; some of the couple’s choices seem to bring predictable ethical challenges that I don’t understand they didn’t prepare for ahead of time, since they clearly are people who care about consequences, and in many ways relate to the wolves as if they were their adopted children.
At times it was as if the story was the top of the iceberg of an underlying epic drama between good & evil; or between the brilliance of the Wild VS the mediocrity of Civilisation. I didn’t like Lois’ “spiritualising” of the wolves, and her scarcely concealed contempt for dogs. The wolves are shining free spirits, the dogs the pity slaves of civilisation; their spirit corrupted and their hearts “fierce” (whereas the wolves’ hearts are “gentle”)… according to Lois.
It is a black and white world view which doesn’t benefit the animals or Lois’ decision making capabilities or ability to make observe animals objectively (and she clearly doesn’t know much about dogs).
In conclusion, Arctic Wild is a unique true story definitely worth reading for its deep personal insights into wolf behaviour and everyday wildlife on the arctic tundra, while it is also in some ways unsettling irrational and should be taken with a grain of salt.
September 13, 2015
I'm nearly finished reading this book and it is one of the best I've ever read. I don't want it to ever end. She - they, have such insight in their raising these two wolves and communicating with them. I'm enjoying each new experience they have.
As well as their camping in the arctic photographing caribou they just seem to really enjoy doing what they did even tho the conditions would make most women RUN!
She is very descriptive in her writing describing their surroundings and then the actions of the wolves as they grow and as they themselves grow to understand the wolves mannerisms and temperament.
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Finished! to me it was one of the best books I've read if you are an animal lover, doesn't need to be wolves. It showed to in depth relationship this couple had with wolves and truly understanding them. I felt I connected with them because of the way I understand the cats that are in my care.
As well as their camping in the arctic photographing caribou they just seem to really enjoy doing what they did even tho the conditions would make most women RUN!
She is very descriptive in her writing describing their surroundings and then the actions of the wolves as they grow and as they themselves grow to understand the wolves mannerisms and temperament.
````````````````````````````````````
Finished! to me it was one of the best books I've read if you are an animal lover, doesn't need to be wolves. It showed to in depth relationship this couple had with wolves and truly understanding them. I felt I connected with them because of the way I understand the cats that are in my care.
January 17, 2013
WoooHooo - thank goodness for internet, ebay, used book sellers, etc.
Don't remember exactly where I found this copy, but I remembered that it was such a favorite book of mine from reading in high school. I've been to Alaska several times and always remember this book, so now I own it and have reread it and it's just as magical.
Recommend.
Read in 2008.
Don't remember exactly where I found this copy, but I remembered that it was such a favorite book of mine from reading in high school. I've been to Alaska several times and always remember this book, so now I own it and have reread it and it's just as magical.
Recommend.
Read in 2008.
March 14, 2016
Loved it! A bit slow in the beginning, but once the two wolves became part of the Crisler "family" I could hardly put it down.
Amazing story of a couple that spends 18 months north of the Brooks Range in AK in 1958-9.
Amazing story of a couple that spends 18 months north of the Brooks Range in AK in 1958-9.
February 27, 2016
About wolves and caribou - very good
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews