Coyote America

A Natural and Supernatural History

By: Dan Flores

Narrated by: Elijah Alexander

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

With its uncanny night howls, unrivaled ingenuity, and amazing resilience, the coyote is the stuff of legends. In Indian folktales it often appears as a deceptive trickster or a sly genius. But legends don't come close to capturing the incredible survival story of the coyote.

As soon as Americans - especially white Americans - began ranching and herding in the West, they began working to destroy the coyote. Despite campaigns of annihilation employing poisons, gases, helicopters, and engineered epidemics, coyotes didn't just survive, they thrived, expanding across the continent from Anchorage, Alaska, to New York's Central Park. In the war between humans and coyotes, coyotes have won hands down.

Coyote America is both an environmental and a deep natural history of the coyote. It traces both the five-million-year-long biological story of an animal that has become the "wolf" in our backyards and its cultural evolution from a preeminent spot in Native American religions to the hapless foil of the Road Runner. A deeply American tale, the story of the coyote in the American West and beyond is a sort of Manifest Destiny in reverse, with a pioneering hero whose career holds up an uncanny mirror to the successes and failures of American expansionism.

An illuminating biography of this extraordinary animal, Coyote America isn't just the story of an animal's survival - it is one of the great epics of our time.

©2016 Dan Flores (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Flores Makes Coyotes Great Again

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. I hear these creatures howl all summer on the golf course near my house. I rarely see them. This books gives great insights into why Coyotes are in your backyard, and why you do not need to fear them (so long as you keep Fluffy inside). The books makes the case that Coyotes are a great American animal that should be cherished; a resilient animal that we should respect. For the most part it succeeds in making this case. I didn't give it a full five stars because at points it gets a bit preachy. It takes a stance on the side of environmentalists in the fight against ranchers of coyotes- a stance I tend to agree with, but also find a bit more nuanced than Flores may let on. Still, this book is informative and worth the listen. I am new to the idea of "Natural History" books and cannot wait to read more of them.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I got through it in two long car rides. I could see someone powering through this in a day.

As a Santa Fe New Mexico

Native who enjoys a frequent coyote serenade and a magical place referenced throughout Coyote America, I was already fully inclined to appreciate this book. I was not disappointed, EXCEPT for the authors occasional dissent into strident political polemics. Why can’t believe that conservative thinkers like Walt Disney, Richard Nixon and others are incapable of sincere ecological sympathies or that Republicans could never harbor a liberal pro-earth/animal/environment view. That tired but predictable bigotry is a minor retraction from what otherwise was an informative and revealing story about our National Animal!

Educational and interesting.

This book is a very interesting look into the history of the relationship between humans and coyotes. It details the policies on wild predators and the effects of those policies over hundreds of years, weaving in folklore that in many ways, coyotes share the same resilience and adaptability that has made us humans so successful.

fascinating

this was an amazing book. Dan Flores is the man. I heard him on Joe Rogan and had to get it.

Learned a lot about coyotes

Coyote in my neighborhood prompted me to pick up this book to learn a bit. I’m glad that I finished it, but it’s a long slog. Bottom line, get used to living among coyotes. Extremely adaptable, they will prevail.

Coyotes here, there and every where.

I loved this. Flores writes with such respect for his subject that I had to review my own beliefs about coyotes. I was both entertained and educated. Alexander does credit to this book and his performance was warm and engaging. If you've ever marvelled the coyote chorus please give this audiobook a try. #coyotewonderful #illuminating #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

New Respect For The “Other” American Canid

Old Man Coyote is a survivor. Neither bear nor wolf, cougar, dog nor even man will be able get rid of these evolutionary masterworks. They are not varmints or pests. Flores details how coyotes are the perfect pest/rodent control device for the woods, farms and now even cities.

He does a great job of setting the stage and playing out the last few million years that evolved the perfect 2nd tier “Made in America” carnivore.

Oops- OMNIVORE- as they eat meat, carrion, insects and even berries when in the wild. A McD dumpster is not off the menu for the city dwellers.

Alexander does an excellent job with the narration. His enthusiasm and timing add to the tale.

Smart as a fox should instead be smart as old coyote!

Every American should listen to this audio book.

This is a great book. Definitely going to give it a second listen soon. Thanks for the knowledge!

Informative

This was interesting, informative and presented in an easy to understand why. There were some parts where I found my mind wandering, but overall, I found it to be an enjoyable listen. I was particularly fascinated with the coyote's methods of survival, despite humans' best efforts; who knew that when there numbers are stable, they have low birth rates, but when their numbers are low, they produce large litters! Guess they showed us!

A must read

Great book, super well researched. Some tough sections, but true for any “nature” book that includes history from the nineteenth century. Well worth the time. I learned a lot and am also motivated to learn more.