SOURCE: “Three Generations of Wolf Pack Life,” in Christian Science Monitor, September 9, 1992, p. 13.

In the review of The Ninemile Wolves that follows, Knickerbocker praises Bass's passion for nature and discusses his focus on the correct relationship between man and the natural world.

The biological and political world of endangered species includes thousands of little bugs and plants most people never hear of or care about, except when they get in the way of building something mankind wants or interfere with the extraction of natural resources. What are called the “charismatic megafauna”—the bigger critters (usually mammals)—are either warm and fuzzy and cute or carry with them a wild and sometimes violent history both frightening and attractive. Such is the case with wolves, whose reputation for strength and cunning seems mostly concentrated in stories about boys and girls (and little pigs) who get eaten. Over the past century...