Wild Nights http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Wild-Nights-Anne-Matthews/9780007123339?cf=3

The Nature of New York City

By Anne Matthews

About the Author

anne matthews was educated at and lives now in Princeton. She is the author of two previous books, the Pulitzer-shortlisted Where the Buffalo Roam (1993) and Bright College Years (1997), named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. She is currently Visiting Associate Professor in the Dept of Journalism and Communication at NYU and Contributing Editor at Preservation magazine. Wild Nights is the first of her books to be published outside North America.

Reviews

'An engaging account of the return of wild nature to urban areas. Anne Matthews is a crackerjack reporter and an elegant writer. She reveals a different kind of nature -- a clever, opportunistic, frightening nature, often hauntingly beautiful --adapting to the human species and exploiting us, and reminding us that our place in the long-term natural history of the earth is by no means assured.' Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone 'Anne Matthews's Wild Nights is a feisty, enthralling corrective to the idea that nature is placid and out there; from garlic mustard to coyotes, from virus to hurricane, we see how the most urban of cities is succumbing to the wild's longer-term agenda. Brilliant.' Adam Thorpe, author of Ulverton 'A stunning exploration of urban and natural history and the ways in which the two are ultimately the same. From dazed, light-drunk songbirds dropping in the wee hours at the base of Wall Street skyscrapers; to bridge-crossing coyotes, Anne Matthews teaches us how to see and listen all over again, both to the physical world around us and to the well-wrought, cadenced prose with which she brings that world to life. Wild Nights is an important book that helps us put civilization in perspective even as it gently coaxes us to consider with greater perspective civilization's future course.' Charles Siebert, author of Wickerby: An Urban Pastoral