Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America

Dan Flores's Wild New World is a sweeping narrative that explores the complex history of animals and humans in North America. The story begins with a remarkable discovery in 1908, near Folsom, New Mexico, where the remains of a herd of extinct giant bison were found, along with flint points that revealed a band of humans had killed and butchered the animals 12,450 years ago. This finding expanded America's known human history, but also highlighted the long-standing danger that humans posed to the continent's evolutionary richness. The book chronicles the epoch in which humans and animals coexisted in the "wild new world" of North America, a place shaped by its own grand evolutionary forces and by momentous arrivals from Asia, Africa, and Europe. Flores describes the evolution and historical ecology of North America, featuring iconic creatures such as mammoths, horses, wolves, and bison. He shows how the arrival of humans precipitated an extraordinary disruption of this teeming environment, and how our past as carnivorous hunters helped us settle America, initially establishing a coast-to-coast culture that lasted longer than the present United States. However, humanity's success had devastating consequences for other creatures. Flores treats humans not as a species apart, but as a new animal entering two continents that had never seen our likes before. This nuanced perspective offers a fresh understanding of the complex relationships between humans and the natural world in North America.