| Book Review | Environmental History, 11.4

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| Book Review | Environmental History, 11.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West. By Michael Robinson. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2005. xvii + 473 pp. Illustrations, maps, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. Paper $24.95.

As wolves are being restored to the landscapes and the histories of the American West, scholars are paying increased attention to the reasons for their extirpation nearly a century ago. Was it due to a hatred located deep in our psyche, a cultural drive fed by folklore, a biological imperative, or an economic necessity? Michael Robinson contends that such forces were necessary but not sufficient for the elimination of wolves in the West. Fur trappers, bounty hunters, and tons of strychnine reduced wolf populations, but did not completely eliminate wolves, as ranchers had hoped. Instead, the rugged individualists of the ranching frontier turned to a federal agency for the professionalism and efficiency required to exterminate persistent predators. Drawing on the political strength and financial resources of the livestock industry, this agency pursued a relentless campaign against predators and rodents throughout the West, and survived long after its original mandate was outdated.

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