Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell about Fear

"An original and probing debut work of nonfiction by a brilliant new writer, rooted in her years-long quest to study the cultural legacy of the wolf In this enthralling, kaleidoscopic exploration of wolves both real and symbolic, Erica Berry weaves historic and scientific findings alongside criticism, journalism, and memoir to illuminate the strands of our cultural constructions of predator and prey, and what it means to navigate a world in which we can be both. From 17th-century Europeans referring to mysterious bodily sores as wolves, to contemporary xenophobia about wolves crossing national borders, wolves have long been made to carry our most entrenched sociopolitical, environmental, and bodily fears. Intimate and thought-provoking, Wolfish is a lyrical inquiry into the relationship between humans and wolves, anchored in the dual stories of one legendary tagged wolf, OR-7, and the author. Charting OR-7's long-distance solo journey after he leaves his pack in northeastern Oregon beside the author's own roaming trajectory away from her Oregon home, Wolfish wrestles with inherited narratives around fear, danger, and the body. From her grandfather's sheep farm to a wolf sanctuary on an aristocratic English estate, Erica Berry untangles binaries of predator and prey, self and other, and wild and domestic, finding new expressions for how to be a brave woman, human, and animal in our warming world. Perfect for readers of cultural criticism, environmental writing, Rebecca Solnit, H is for Hawk, or anybody trying to navigate a world that is often scary. A timely and necessary book for current and future generations"
Weaving together science, history and cultural criticism, the author, bridging the gap between human fear and grief through the lens of wolves, chronicles her own migration as she searches for new expressions for how to be a brave woman, human and animal in our warming world. 75,000 first printing.
For fans of Helen MacDonald’s H is for Hawk and Mary Roach, Erica Berry’s Wolfish blends science, history, and cultural criticism in a years-long journey to understand our myths about wolves, and track one legendary wolf, OR-7, from the Wallowa Mountains of Oregon. A Most Anticipated Book of 2023: TIME, Los Angeles Times, Vulture, Salon, Bustle, Los Angeles Times, The Rumpus, Financial Times, Reader's Digest, LitHub, Book Riot, Debutiful, and more! "Wolfish starts with a single wolf and spirals through nuanced investigations of fear, gender, violence, and story. A  gorgeous achievement."  Blair Braverman, author of Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube“ This is one of those stories that begins with a female body. Hers was crumpled, roadside, in the ash-colored slush between asphalt and snowbank.”So begins Erica Berry’s kaleidoscopic exploration of wolves, both real and symbolic. At the center of this lyrical inquiry is the legendary OR-7, who roams away from his familial pack in northeastern Oregon. While charting OR-7’s record-breaking journey out of the Wallowa Mountains, Erica simultaneously details her own coming-of-age as she moves away from home and wrestles with inherited beliefs about fear, danger, femininity, and the body. As Erica chronicles her own migration from crying wolf as a child on her grandfather’s sheep farm to accidentally eating mandrake in Sicily she searches for new expressions for how to be a brave woman, human, and animal in our warming world. What do stories so long told about wolves tell us about our relationship to fear? How can our society peel back the layers of what scares us? By strategically unspooling the strands of our cultural constructions of predator and prey, and what it means to navigate a world in which we can be both, Erica bridges the gap between human fear and grief through the lens of a wrongfully misunderstood species.Wolfish is for anybody trying to navigate a world that is often scary. A powerful, timeless, and necessary book for our current and future generations.