Feb 23 2023
Christopher J. Preston – Tenacious Beasts

Christopher J. Preston – Tenacious Beasts

Presented by Book Passage at Book Passage, Corte Madera

In-person author event
* Thursday, February 23, 6:00 pm

An inspiring look at wildlife species that are defying the odds and teaching important lessons about how to share a planet.

The news about wildlife is dire — more than 900 species have been wiped off the planet since industrialization. Against this bleak backdrop, however, there are also glimmers of hope and crucial lessons to be learned from animals that have defied global trends toward extinction.

Bear in Italy, bison in North America, whales in the Atlantic. These populations are back from the brink, some of them in numbers unimaginable in a century. How has this happened? What shifts in thinking did it demand? In crisp, transporting prose, Christopher Preston reveals the mysteries and challenges at the heart of these resurgences.

Drawing on compelling personal stories from the researchers, Indigenous people, and activists who know the creatures best, Preston weaves together a gripping narrative of how some species are taking back vital, ecological roles. Each section of the book — farms, prairies, rivers, forests, oceans — offers a philosophical shift in how humans ought to think about animals, passionately advocating for the changes in attitude necessary for wildlife recovery.

Tenacious Beasts is quintessential nature writing for the Anthropocene, touching on different facets of ecological restoration from Indigenous knowledge to rewilding practices. More important, perhaps, the book offers a road map — and a measure of hope — for a future in which humans and animals can once again coexist.


Christopher Preston's essays have appeared in the Atlantic, Smithsonian, and Aeon, and on the BBC website. He is author of The Synthetic Age (MIT Press). He teaches environmental philosophy at the University of Montana and lives in Missoula, MT.

Admission Info

Free Admission

Phone: (415) 927-0960

Email: webmaster@bookpassage.com

Additional time info:

6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Dates & Times

2023/02/23 - 2023/02/23

Location Info

Book Passage, Corte Madera

51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925

Parking Info

Parking lot