Going Wild: Hunting, Animal Rights, and the Contested Meaning of Nature

The focus of this book is our relationship to what is often termed "wilderness" and to the various flora and fauna that inhabit it. Particularly, Dizzard examines the controversey surrounding a particular area in Massachusets. The story he tells, and this book reads like an good novel, is the larger story of the history of the white man's relationship with North American land, animals and plants. One chapter is a history of hunting here in the U.S.A. and is particularly illuminating, especially since the popular image of the recreational hunter seems to have changed so much. Dizzard is obviously sympathetic towards the use of hunting as a valid and effective control on a particular deer population (in Massachusets)in this special case. However, he shows the problems that hunters create and some of the myths and outright lies that they perpetrate. As a hunter myself I think a book like this is long overdue. He also subjects members of the animal rights/anti-hunting community to the same scrutiny.All in all, an excellent book for anti-hunters, hunters, and lovers of wildlife who wish to understand it better. Dizzard's objective style is much appreciated amidst all the polarized brouhhaha and pap that passes these days as either pro or anti hunting philosophy.