Book review: [N]ever Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat

Mark Twain on the tundra: At times, that’s how this 1963 classic played to my mind.     Farley Mowat’s sense of humor €”often self-directed €”and the acuity of his social criticism reminded me so much of Twain’s acerbic wit that I found myself reading Mowat but seeing in the text Sam Clemens’ ghost €”flowing white hair, white mustache, white suit, as many photos portray him.

I read Never Cry Wolf for two reasons.   First, wolves have begun appearing in northern Utah and the rancher v. wolf conflict is heating up.   In fact, as the success of the reintroduction of wolves to the U.S. spills into states surrounding Yellowstone, human competition with wolves and with other humans supportive of wolves’ return has intensified sharply, with people scrambling to find language either to justify resisting the animals’ arrival or to lay out the welcome mat and defend the animals’ rights to territory.

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