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A masterful hybrid of nature writing and cultural studies that investigates our connection with deer – from mythology to biology, from forests to cities, from coexistence to control and extermination – and invites readers to contemplate the paradoxes of how humans interact with and shape the natural world.
From the earliest cave paintings to the present day, humans and deer have a long and complex history. Royal harts were the coveted quarry of European kings, while the first Americans relied on deer for everything from buckskins to arrowheads. Once hunted to the point of extinction in some parts of the world, deer numbers have exploded in recent years, causing tension between sports hunters and scientists. And yet, this is our own story, as the fortune of deer is inextricably bound up with the actions that we humans take on the world around us.
Weaving together history and reportage, in The Age of Deer Erika Howsare deftly explores the relationship between our two species in the line where wildness meets humankind. It is a reminder of the poetry and violence of the natural world, from an exciting new voice in nature writing.
Erika Howsare is a writer, journalist and teacher. Her essays, reviews and interviews have appeared in publications such as the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Rumpus, and she is the author of two collections of poetry, How is Travel a Folded Form? and FILL: A Collection (with Kate Schapira). She lives in the Blue Ridge in central Virginia.
"A poignant meditation on humanity's relationship with deer [...] [Howsare's] lyrical musings cast her subject in a new light [...] Readers will be enthralled."
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A fascinating exploration of deer [...] Outstanding natural history writing."
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Extraordinary and absorbing, The Age of Deer proves John Muir's notion that when we pick out one thing in the universe we find it hitched to everything else. Howsare understands that we live in an age of numbness when 'few of us are willing to really feel,' and suggests, through the lives of deer and her experience with them, an elemental antidote."
– David Gessner, author of Return of the Osprey and All the Wild That Remains
"By paying close attention to an animal often seen but rarely observed, Howsare reveals that deer are far more mysterious and complicated – and far more deeply embedded in our lives and collective histories – than they may seem. The Age of Deer is a wonderfully perceptive, absorbing, and rewarding exploration of life in all its interconnected forms."
– Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction
"Erika Howsare has written a fascinating and brilliantly researched book on deer. She has an ear for the conundrums and contradictions of our entanglements with these creatures, who increasingly occupy a middle ground between wild and domestic, survivors of our species' worst predations."
– Alison Hawthorne Deming, author of A Woven World
"A warm, engaging, and thoughtful look at what matters to deer and what they mean to us. Howsare is fascinated by the paradoxical status of an animal we all think we know: Not tame, but not quite wild either; fetishized by some, resented by others; all too common, and yet impossible to ignore. I highly recommend it!"
– Nate Blakslee, author of American Wolf
"In her lyrical and revelatory The Age of Deer, Erika Howsare crafts the definitive account of humanity's longstanding dependence on the lovely creatures, their prominent place in myth and legend, and our modern failures to live peaceably alongside them. A cautionary (but often beautiful) tale of good intentions gone awry."
– Earl Swift, author of Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings
"The Age of Deer joins a growing canon of fresh treatments of wild creatures that are anciently enmeshed in the human story. And as Howsare reminds us in her warm, relaxed style, we will always have such a relationship with deer. The next one you see is going to intrigue you in a whole new way."
– Dan Flores, New York Times bestselling author of Coyote America and Wild New World
"I carried The Age of Deer in my pack for a few days through a canyon in Colorado, and it was a great complement to the lopsided slopes of fallen trees and the sound of roaring water. The deer is due its storyteller and Howsare takes the role with smartness and grace."
– Craig Childs, author of Tracing Time, House of Rain, and The Secret Knowledge of Water
