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Gavin Van Horn is the director of Cultures of Conservation for the Center for Humans and Nature, a nonprofit organization that focuses on and promotes conservation ethics. He writes for, edits, and curates the City Creatures blog. Dave Aftandilian is associate professor of anthropology at Texas Christian University. He is the editor of What Are the Animals to Us? Approaches from Science, Religion, Folklore, Literature, and Art.
"City Creatures is a collection of essays, artwork, and poetry from
over 50 contributors. It exuberantly spans subjects from the
spiritual benefits and moral issues around keeping chickens in the
backyard to the unsung contributions of soil mites. We learn about
orchid sex and the resurrection of frozen frogs. A scientist gives
us a glimpse into the secret lives of urban coyotes. There's a
step-by-step description of taxidermy. We are treated to charming
accounts of meetings with owls, parrots, skunks, snakes and other
animal neighbors, and a haunting glimpse of herons on the
concrete-lined banks of a polluted stream. The authors take us
bird-watching, snake-hunting, dog-walking, and into Chicago's
museums and zoos. The book is about the wildlife of Chicago, but
the subjects extend well beyond. After reading City Creatures I was
left feeling the strong collective impact of all of those voices.
The stories were informative or intimate or funny or sad or all of
these things. What I found most unique and unexpected was the
book's emotional content. I was touched. I literally laughed and
cried, diving forward into each new story, genuinely interested to
hear about the next person's wildlife experiences."--Julie
Feinstein, author of Field Guide to Urban Wildlife
"A fascinating collection of thoughtful insights in the richly
diverse and surprisingly pulsing urban nature of one of the world's
most busy cities. This vivid and passionate book opens our eyes to
the wealth of animal life that regularly goes unnoticed in the
hustling and bustling of the everyday. The animals we share our
city with occupy different urban spaces, geographical areas, and
institutional domains as their fleeting presences are captured in
this book by essayists, poets, and artists. With its emphasis on
local realities and histories, City Creatures sets the model for
the eco-urban engagement this decade so urgently needs."--Giovanni
Aloi, editor in chief of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual
Culture and lecturer in modern and contemporary art at The School
of the Art Institute of Chicago
"The essays, stories, art, poetry, and photography in City
Creatures convey one insight after another about modern life, and
in particular offer ideas about ethics, the importance of place,
displaced species, the diversity of life, religious practice and
thinking, and the role of literature and other arts in helping us
see our daily lives. Human city dwellers will see their world far
better and recognize how to stop harming their local habitat and
their fellow urban 'citizens, ' building toward coexistence with
their nonhuman neighbors."--Paul Waldau, author of Animal Studies:
An Introduction
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