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SUMMARY:Rockfall Environmental Book Club
DESCRIPTION:[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text margin_bottom=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1774540119634{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]The Rockfall Environmental Book Club meets every other month at the historic deKoven House in Middletown to read and talk about books on nature\, climate\, ecology\, and sustainability. It’s a chance to learn together\, share ideas\, and connect with others who care about the environment. All are welcome—no RSVP required\, and don’t worry if you haven’t finished the book. Just bring your curiosity and join the conversation. \nOur next meeting will take place on Tuesday\, May 12th at 6 pm at the deKoven House (27 Washington Street\, Middletown). We’ll be discussing Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Phillip.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”About the Book” font_container=”tag:h4|text_align:left” css=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1773428810300{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]An intimate and revelatory dive into the world of the beaver—the wonderfully weird rodent that has surprisingly shaped American history and may save its ecological future.  \nFrom award-winning writer Leila Philip\, Beaverland is a masterful work of narrative science writing\, a book that highlights\, though history and contemporary storytelling\, how this weird rodent plays an oversized role in American history and its future. She follows fur trappers who lead her through waist high water\, fur traders and fur auctioneers\, as well as wildlife managers\, PETA activists\, Native American environmental vigilantes\, scientists\, engineers\, and the colorful group of activists known as beaver believers. \nBeginning with the early trans-Atlantic trade in North America\, Leila Philip traces the beaver’s profound influence on our nation’s early economy and feverish western expansion\, its first corporations and multi-millionaires. In her pursuit of this weird and wonderful animal\, she introduces us to people whose lives are devoted to the beaver\, including a Harvard scientist from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana\, who uses drones to create 3-dimensional images of beaver dams; and an environmental restoration consultant in the Chesapeake whose nickname is the “beaver whisperer”. \nWhat emerges is a poignant personal narrative\, a startling portrait of the secretive world of the contemporary fur trade\, and an engrossing ecological and historical investigation of these heroic animals who\, once trapped to the point of extinction\, have returned to the landscape as one of the greatest conservation stories of the 20th century. Beautifully written and impeccably researched\, Beaverland reveals the profound ways in which one odd creature and the trade surrounding it has shaped history\, culture\, and our environment. \nThe New York Times Editors’ Choice[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”18964″ img_size=”full” css=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1773428819504{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]“This lyrical exploration is a portal for readers to enter into the mysteries of that world themselves.”―The Washington Post \n“Lyrically written\, meticulously observed\, and exhaustively researched\, BEAVERLAND is going to break your heart—and then heal it with compassion\, beauty\, and wonder.”―Sy Montgomery\, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus \n“We can’t have enough books about this wonderful creature–and this one is particularly strong on the remarkable history of the animal in our continent’s history and imagination. A loud slap of the tail in approval!“―Bill McKibben\, author of The End of Nature \n“BEAVERLAND is wonderful\, captivating\, and illuminating. I learned so much — about natural history\, business history\, the world of today’s fur trappers\, and the role of a large\, strange rodent in America’s ecological future. Leila Philip is a skilled and engaging guide through this beaver-influenced terrain.“―James Fallows\, co-author of Our Towns \n“Before the Anthropocene we had the Casterocene: a North American environment profoundly shaped by millions of beavers. In BEAVERLAND\, Leila Philip takes us on a fascinating tour of the beaver’s effect on human history\, and how\, after its near extinction\, we need to bring this rodent back for the sake of our ecosystems.”―Frans de Waal\, author of Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist (Norton\, 2022) \n“BEAVERLAND may be the best-realized book about an American animal in years. A work of open-hearted discovery. Can returning beavers and their works save our future? However you answer that\, this fine book is going to re-arrange the furniture in your head.” ―Dan Flores\, New York Times bestselling author of Coyote America[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
URL:https://rockfallfoundation.org/event/rockfall-environmental-book-club-5/
LOCATION:deKoven House\, 27 Washington Street\, Middletown\, CT\, 06457
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