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THE EYE OF THE ELEPHANT

LIFE AND DEATH IN AN AFRICAN WILDERNESS

From the couple who publicized the plight of the wildebeest in the Kalahari (Cry of the Kalahari, 1984)—a further search for a wilderness paradise in Africa, pitting the energetic duo against elephant poachers in northern Zambia. When forced by Botswana authorities to leave the Kalahari, the Owenses, still intent on finding an unspoiled Eden—i.e., territory with no other people in sight—settle upon a remote corner of Zambia, the North Luangwa National Park, for their next research project. Here, they hope to continue their study of lions, but they soon realize that the park's elephants are being decimated by poachers. War is declared and, once the couple have established their camp in the valley—a task complicated by the local river's tendency to flood—they get to work. Mark, obsessed with saving the elephants and nabbing the poachers, flies endless nocturnal combat- style missions over the park, lobbing cherry bombs at poachers, and organizes on-the-ground sorties. The poachers retaliate, and it seems as if the local park rangers and villagers are in cahoots with the villains. By now, the authors are beginning to realize that Africans may also be in need of help, and that the locals are poaching out of economic necessity; so with donated funds, they encourage small businesses in the villages; visit schools to educate the young about their rich animal heritage; and pay bounty for captured poachers. The elephants slowly begin to return; the villagers seem to be developing new sources of income despite Zambia's bankrupt economy and the prevalence of AIDS; and Mark and Delia stay on to save the park. Another seemingly clear-cut victory for the tireless defenders of wildlife, who tell a lively tale tinged with that smugness typical of Western conservationists who expect the impossible of poor Africa. (Thirty-two pages of b&w photographs—not seen.)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-395-42381-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992

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A FIRE STORY

Drawings, words, and a few photos combine to convey the depth of a tragedy that would leave most people dumbstruck.

A new life and book arise from the ashes of a devastating California wildfire.

These days, it seems the fires will never end. They wreaked destruction over central California in the latter months of 2018, dominating headlines for weeks, barely a year after Fies (Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, 2009) lost nearly everything to the fires that raged through Northern California. The result is a vividly journalistic graphic narrative of resilience in the face of tragedy, an account of recent history that seems timely as ever. “A two-story house full of our lives was a two-foot heap of dead smoking ash,” writes the author about his first return to survey the damage. The matter-of-fact tone of the reportage makes some of the flights of creative imagination seem more extraordinary—particularly a nihilistic, two-page centerpiece of a psychological solar system in which “the fire is our black hole,” and “some veer too near and are drawn into despair, depression, divorce, even suicide,” while “others are gravitationally flung entirely out of our solar system to other cities or states, and never seen again.” Yet the stories that dominate the narrative are those of the survivors, who were part of the community and would be part of whatever community would be built to take its place across the charred landscape. Interspersed with the author’s own account are those from others, many retirees, some suffering from physical or mental afflictions. Each is rendered in a couple pages of text except one from a fellow cartoonist, who draws his own. The project began with an online comic when Fies did the only thing he could as his life was reduced to ash and rubble. More than 3 million readers saw it; this expanded version will hopefully extend its reach.

Drawings, words, and a few photos combine to convey the depth of a tragedy that would leave most people dumbstruck.

Pub Date: March 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4197-3585-1

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Abrams ComicArts

Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018

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H IS FOR HAWK

Whether you call this a personal story or nature writing, it’s poignant, thoughtful and moving—and likely to become a...

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  • New York Times Bestseller


  • National Book Critics Circle Finalist

An inspired, beautiful and absorbing account of a woman battling grief—with a goshawk.

Following the sudden death of her father, Macdonald (History and Philosophy/Cambridge Univ.; Falcon, 2006, etc.) tried staving off deep depression with a unique form of personal therapy: the purchase and training of an English goshawk, which she named Mabel. Although a trained falconer, the author chose a raptor both unfamiliar and unpredictable, a creature of mad confidence that became a means of working against madness. “The hawk was everything I wanted to be: solitary, self-possessed, free from grief, and numb to the hurts of human life,” she writes. As a devotee of birds of prey since girlhood, Macdonald knew the legends and the literature, particularly the cautionary example of The Once and Future King author T.H. White, whose 1951 book The Goshawk details his own painful battle to master his title subject. Macdonald dramatically parallels her own story with White’s, achieving a remarkable imaginative sympathy with the writer, a lonely, tormented homosexual fighting his own sadomasochistic demons. Even as she was learning from White’s mistakes, she found herself very much in his shoes, watching her life fall apart as the painfully slow bonding process with Mabel took over. Just how much do animals and humans have in common? The more Macdonald got to know her, the more Mabel confounded her notions about what the species was supposed to represent. Is a hawk a symbol of might or independence, or is that just our attempt to remake the animal world in our own image? Writing with breathless urgency that only rarely skirts the melodramatic, Macdonald broadens her scope well beyond herself to focus on the antagonism between people and the environment.

Whether you call this a personal story or nature writing, it’s poignant, thoughtful and moving—and likely to become a classic in either genre.

Pub Date: March 3, 2015

ISBN: 978-0802123411

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Grove

Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014

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