Review: The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities, by Peter S. Alagona

Abstract

Book Review| February 01 2023 Review: The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities, by Peter S. Alagona Peter S. Alagona. The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities. Oakland: University of California Press, 2022. 296 pp. Illustrations. Hardcover $26.95. Emily Wakild Emily Wakild EMILY WAKILD is the Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for the Environment and Public Lands at Boise State University. She is the author of Revolutionary Parks: Conservation, Social Justice, and Mexico’s National Parks (2011) and coauthor, with Michelle K. Berry, of A Primer for Teaching Environmental History (2017). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2023) 100 (1): 111–113. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.1.111 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Emily Wakild; Review: The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities, by Peter S. Alagona. California History 1 February 2023; 100 (1): 111–113. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.1.111 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search Peter Alagona’s Accidental Ecosystem provides a marvelous history of the present, with key episodes from the past for context. Arguing that urban spaces became “rich wildlife habitat” (2) while we were mostly not paying attention, Alagona masterfully brings debates about rewilding into conversation with the habitat where most people and many animals already live: cities. Instead of treating wildlife populations and large vertebrate habitat as something out there, the author shows with countless vivid and compelling examples that nature’s return is already happening in here. The book’s style, pace, and evidence convincingly argue that the choices we make today about compassionate management will “affect wildlife and shape ecosystems—in cities and beyond—for generations to come” (7). This book has the potential not just to reshape the field, but to reshape the way humans approach the benefits and challenges of living with animals. Over the course of fourteen chapters, Alagona... You do not currently have access to this content.