Christine Lakin’s enthusiasm and authenticity lure the listener into the world of beavers. Author Leila Philip casts a wide net as she delves into their cultural significance for some North American tribes, stresses how vitally important beaver dams are to clean water even today, and recounts how John Jacob Astor became rich from trading beaver skins. Lakin clearly conveys the respect and empathy that Philip has for trappers, fur traders, and environmentalists alike, despite their being on different sides of the political spectrum. Lakin captures the lighter moments, too. She sounds as weirdly fascinated as we are by the “beaver lady” who let more than a dozen beavers live in her home even though they sometimes chewed the legs off her furniture. A.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

★ 10/03/2022

Philip (A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family), a professor in the English department at the College of the Holy Cross, offers an enthralling history of beavers and their impact on the United States. As she writes, “wherever we lived, whether it was in a city or a town, the suburbs or a rural location, chances were beavers were already at work somewhere—managing, cleansing, and restoring the water and biodiversity of that place.” The animals play a consequential role in the environment, as their dams “create new habitat for hundreds of animal species that rely on those new waterways,” and were also significant in the development of the economy: in the 18th-century, Johann Jacob Astor became America’s first multimillionaire and “ignited the first great engines of American capitalism” after landing the country’s first trade monopoly for his American Fur Company, which dealt in beaver pelts. Philip’s vivid narrative is enriched by Native American legend (she relays the “Algonquian deep time saga of Ktsi Amiskw, the Great Beaver”), entertaining accounts of beaver devotees (including one woman who, in the 1930s, shared her farmhouse with 14 beavers), and sharp prose: “They groom their lustrous fur with catlike fastidiousness.” The result is a triumph of popular nature writing. (Dec.)

Leila Philip offers an appreciative account of the North American rodent...all of this is inspiring.”—The New York Times

“This lyrical exploration is a portal for readers to enter into the mysteries of that world themselves.”—The Washington Post

“Lyrically written, meticulously observed, and exhaustively researched, BEAVERLAND is going to break your heart—and then heal it with compassion, beauty, and wonder.”—Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus

"We can't have enough books about this wonderful creature—and this one is particularly strong on the remarkable history of the animal in our continent's history and imagination. A loud slap of the tail in approval!"—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

"BEAVERLAND is wonderful, captivating, and illuminating. I learned so much — about natural history, business history, the world of today's fur trappers, and the role of a large, strange rodent in America's ecological future. Leila Philip is a skilled and engaging guide through this beaver-influenced terrain."—James Fallows, co-author of Our Towns

“Before the Anthropocene we had the Casterocene: a North American environment profoundly shaped by millions of beavers. In BEAVERLAND, Leila Philip takes us on a fascinating tour of the beaver’s effect on human history, and how, after its near extinction, we need to bring this rodent back for the sake of our ecosystems.”—Frans de Waal, author of Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist (Norton, 2022)

“BEAVERLAND may be the best-realized book about an American animal in years. A work of open-hearted discovery. Can returning beavers and their works save our future? However you answer that, this fine book is going to re-arrange the furniture in your head.”
 —Dan Flores, New York Times bestselling author of Coyote America

“An astonishing, intrepid compendium about the world according to beaver, including social, cultural, and ethnographic history, juxtaposed with personal narrative. Philip brilliantly paves the way for us to enter this unlikely shaper of our nation as she follows naturalists, researchers, trappers, and local historians, as well as visiting her own backyard pond.
 
She dives into many avenues of research, including the enslavement of Native Americans, the cunning greed of John Jacob Astor, the obsession of Dorothy Richards who lived with 14 beavers in her Adirondack house, and the lifeways of indigenous peoples. Every inch of the way we know we are in good hands. BEAVERLAND is poignant, impeccably researched, and as artfully put together as any this 'weird rodent's' houses, with an eye toward the beaver's role in the anthropogenic disaster of our changing climate and damaged ecosystems.”—Gretel Ehrlich, author of Unsolaced and The Solace of Open Spaces

"Leila Philip’s BEAVERLAND is an engaging story centered on a nerdy anti-hero, the beaver. While she states that beavers are weird, she makes a strong case that people in the beaver world are even weirder. This book weaves humor and storytelling with profound thoughts about nature. Don’t miss the beavers parachuting into the Idaho wilderness."—Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling author of Cod and Salt

"BEAVERLAND is a model for 21st-century environmental writing—a beautifully told story with lodes of well-researched history and ecology, and a lyrical ode to natural wonders that steers clear of romanticism and questions cherished environmental ideas. This book will surprise the hell out of you on nearly every page."—Jenny Price, author of Stop Saving the Planet!: An Environmentalist Manifesto

"In this engaging and informative book, Leila Philip tells the tale of North American beavers as seen through human eyes. Philip uses diverse vignettes, from Native American creation stories to visits with contemporary trappers, beaver believers, and scientists, to gradually build a story of beavers and humans through time. Plenty of basic information about beavers is presented in digestible bites along the way as Philip deftly evokes place, mood, people, and beavers."—Dr. Ellen Wohl

"Ranging across a continent and five centuries, BEAVERLAND explores our strange relationship with an odd creature capable of inexplicable engineering. In lyrical words and with deep insights, Leila Philip reveals how beavers shaped our environment - and how humans have unraveled their creation."—Alan Taylor, author of American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850

"Are beavers smart, asks Leila Philip in this captivating personal journey through history and streams that brings secretive creatures to life—beavers and those who trap them. This engaging tale of how beavers shaped America’s rivers and streams for millennia, and how their comeback is now helping restore waterways, invites us to wonder who, really, is the smart one?"—David R. Montgomery, author of King of Fish

"Leila Philip brings intelligence, enthusiasm, and an open mind to her inquiry into the lives and histories of beavers, offering her reader a many-angled vision of her subject as she investigates the overlapping and often-competing interests of the trapper, the developer, the naturalist, the merchant.  In doing so, she tracks the beaver’s essential place in our history and our lives. But BEAVERLAND is also a plea — beyond our history, our markets, and our desires — for the pure appreciation of this mammal and its capacity to remake the world.  Perhaps this is the greatest achievement of Philip’s clear-eyed and beautifully written book."—Jane Brox, author of Silence

“Most interesting is what Philip learned about beavers’ contribution to environmental restoration… A spirited, informative historical and environmental investigation.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Offers an enthralling history of beavers and their impact on the United States…The result is a triumph of popular nature writing.”—Publisher's Weekly

“Philips’ coverage of beaver behavior, habits, and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems is instructive…her narrative goes beyond biology as she delves into the ways beavers shape water, land, and community in America.”—Booklist Reviews

“Deeply informative and beautifully written.”—The Sierra Club

12/01/2022

Award-winning author Philip (A Family Place) explores the multitude of impacts that beavers have on America's history, ecosystem, and culture in this entertaining, thought-provoking book. From their role in western expansion and the fur trade, to the architecture and impact of beaver dams on waterways and biodiversity, Philip reflects on the beaver's significance in American history as she meets with memorable people invested in their futures. Philip successfully distills the many complex worlds that beavers inhabit into both a compelling wildlife portrait and ethnography. She interrogates these different worlds with humor and compassion. The book balances storytelling, history, and science in an accessible way that will appeal widely to fans of history and ecology. It is effectively grounded in Indigenous wisdom and infused with curiosity and a personal narrative that will help readers gain a new respect for these dynamic creatures. Those interested in further reading about beavers may also enjoy Derek Gow's Bringing Back the Beaver: The Story of One Man's Quest To Rewild Britain's Waterways. VERDICT A fascinating and unexpected exploration that gives beavers a deserved spotlight.—Kate Bellody

Christine Lakin’s enthusiasm and authenticity lure the listener into the world of beavers. Author Leila Philip casts a wide net as she delves into their cultural significance for some North American tribes, stresses how vitally important beaver dams are to clean water even today, and recounts how John Jacob Astor became rich from trading beaver skins. Lakin clearly conveys the respect and empathy that Philip has for trappers, fur traders, and environmentalists alike, despite their being on different sides of the political spectrum. Lakin captures the lighter moments, too. She sounds as weirdly fascinated as we are by the “beaver lady” who let more than a dozen beavers live in her home even though they sometimes chewed the legs off her furniture. A.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

2022-09-28
A close look at furry ecosystem engineers.

Describing herself as a “self-trained American naturalist,” Philip shares her fascination with beavers, the “wonderfully weird” animal architects that are notably odd-looking: “part bear, part bird, part monkey, part lizard, humanoid hands, an aquatic tail.” Among the numerous factoids she shares with readers: “beavers never walked backwards; they ate their food twice; they could not doggy paddle; they had ever-growing orange teeth” with which to gnaw woody plants. Although their dams create homes for fish, beavers are herbivores. In prehistoric times, beavers as large as grizzly bears spread across Asia, Europe, and North America. An estimated 60 million to 400 million inhabited North America “prior to European contact,” figuring importantly in the myths, rituals, and even medicine of Native Americans. When Europeans arrived, beaver fur quickly became a coveted article of commerce. John Jacob Astor grew rich from trading in pelts, which supplied the beaver-hat industry. Philip reports in detail on her travels to beaver habitations in northern Connecticut, the White Mountains, and along the Eastern seacoast, talking to environmentalists and researchers along the way. She visited with a professional trapper who works to prevent overpopulation and potential starvation in beaver lodges. She attended a fur auction, where beaver skins were among the pelts of other wild animals, including coyotes and bobcats. In the southern Adirondacks, she searched for the beaver sanctuary created by Dorothy Richards, who lived with 14 beavers in her home. Neighbors thought the “beaver lady” was “nutty.” Most interesting is what Philip learned about beavers’ contribution to environmental restoration. Dams are only one piece of their intricate and “incredibly dynamic” waterways. Without beavers, wetlands dry up, and “the very shape and function of riverine systems” are affected. Even a relatively small population of beavers can cause major rehabilitation, leading environmentalists to look to the animals as essential contributors to a thriving planet.

A spirited, informative historical and environmental investigation.