The Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America's Eastern Wilderness – A Natural History of Elk Bison Wolves and the Effort to Restore the Wilderness

“In The Beasts of the East, Moore recounts the six years he spent traveling throughout the Eastern United States, interviewing and consulting with hundreds of people involved in or affected by wild-animal management, with the intent of discovering how the animals of the Eastern wilderness came to be so quickly ‘extirpated’ and how, centuries later, the undoing of that destruction has at last begun. This is a magisterial work of natural history and reportage.” – Wall Street Journal

“A revelation. Andrew Moore recreates a lost world of not long ago, when the eastern part of North America was wild, when there were elk in Illinois, bison in Indiana, and much of Ohio and Michigan were covered by swamps. This book is both an elegy for what we’ve lost over the last few centuries of so-called human progress, and a clarion call for conservation, rewilding, and finding wonder in those pockets of history that still remain.” – Steve Brusatte, University of Edinburgh paleontologist and New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Reign of the Mammals and The Story of Birds

“A searching exploration of the survival and reintroduction of long-lost animal species east of the Mississippi. . . . An exemplary work of environmental journalism and advocacy.” – Kirkus (starred review)

“[A] captivating account of efforts to return animals to their native landscapes. . . . Moore’s deep research and often cinematic storytelling reveal the power individuals have to shape public policy. It’s an inspiring portrait of ecological recovery.” – Publishers Weekly

“We can’t hope to know where we’re headed if we don’t know where we’ve been and where we’re coming from. In The Beasts of the East, Andrew Moore’s beautifully wrought and compelling stories of our extraordinary wildlife legacy, artfully framed by the author in their rightful context, are exactly what we need to help point us in the right direction.” – Carl Safina

“Beasts of the East is an absorbing history of North American wildlife, from tragic demise to inspiring resurrection. Andrew Moore’s meticulously researched account of eastern rewilding is that rarest and loveliest of species — a truly hopeful book about humankind’s relationship with the natural world.” – Ben Goldfarb, award-winning author of Crossings and Eager

“Moore dispels the myth of a naturally domesticated Eastern seaboard, conjuring a precolonial landscape teeming with elk, bison, wolves, cranes, salmon, and expansive forests. The book details the rapid and violent ecological collapse, much of which was nearly complete within a century of European settlement, before shifting to the equally compelling story of modern restoration. . . . Richly researched and broad in scope, this work will attract readers interested in environmental history and current conservation efforts.” – Library Journal

“Andrew Moore’s Beasts of the East is an enchanting portal into the past when the eastern United States was a rich and wild place. His beautiful prose and illuminating scholarship are important reminders of the abundant old-growth forests and charismatic fauna that once made up America’s eastern landscapes. Most importantly, it is a book that gives us a deep understanding of what once was and inspires us to imagine what could be again.”

– M.R. O’Connor, author of Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World

“Bison trekking through Appalachia? Indeed, it was common once. But the landscape east of the Mississippi River has been so thoroughly rearranged that it’s hard to envision such beasts, or the rest of the once-wild expanse that the first Europeans found (and the altered). Moore, a dogged researcher and a stirring storyteller, profiles three big animal species that are now being brought back, including elk in Kentucky and red wolves in North Carolina. Essential reading for anyone interested in the thorny questions of restoring the wild South.” – Boyce Upholt, southlands

Andrew Moore is the author of Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, which was a James Beard Foundation Award nominee in Writing & Literature. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and The Daily Yonder. He lives in Pittsburgh.