Squirrel Nation: Reds, Greys and the Meaning of Home
Peter Coates
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
A wide-ranging meditation on belonging and citizenship through the story of two squirrel species in Britain. Squirrel Nation is a history of Britain's two species of squirrel over the past two hundred years: the much-loved, though rare, red squirrel and the less-desirable, though more populous, grey squirrel. A common resident of British gardens and parks, the grey squirrel was introduced from North America in the late nineteenth century and remains something of a foreign interloper. By examining this species' rapid spread across Britain, Peter Coates explores timely issues of belonging, nationalism, and citizenship in Britain today. Ultimately, though people are swift to draw distinctions between British squirrels and squirrels in Britain, Squirrel Nation shows that Britain's two squirrel species have much more in common than at first appears.
Product Details
Price
$33.35
Publisher
Reaktion Books
Publish Date
October 22, 2023
Pages
320
Dimensions
5.59 X 8.58 X 1.42 inches | 1.25 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781789147704
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About the Author
Peter Coates is emeritus professor of American and environmental history at the University of Bristol. His previous books include A Story of Six Rivers, also published by Reaktion Books.
Reviews
"This is eco-cultural history at its best, thoughtful, witty and engaging. Peter Coates deftly scurries and leaps through the branches of British squirrel-scapes while challenging us to reflect on the meaning of home, and of human nature."--Rob Lambert, University of Nottingham
"Frisky, alert and as industrious as his subjects, Peter Coates brilliantly narrates the history of our entangled relationship with the squirrel, red and grey. We've kept them as pets and given them personalities, but also eaten them and put bounties on their heads; we've made the grey a regrettable symbol of irresistible Americanisation and the red an embattled but beautifully fragile symbol of Britain in decline. Squirrels continue indifferent, clinging on here, thriving there."--Matthew Kelly, author of 'The Women Who Saved the English Countryside'
"As Coates's splendidly rich book demonstrates in deep cultural detail, the long 'squirrel wars' of 20th-century Britain are a microcosm of wider arguments about biological belonging and what he nicely terms 'the emotional ecology of home.'"-- "The Guardian"
"The fact is that, as Peter Coates makes clear in this magnificent survey of Britain's 'squirrel wars', there is little real difference between greys and reds, apart from the grey's greater adaptability and superior food- finding skills . . . As its subtitle suggests, Coates's book - surely the best and most complete there will ever be on this subject - considers the deeper significance of the 'squirrel wars.'"-- "Literary Review"
"As we approach the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the grey squirrel to Britain, Peter Coates looks at how the greys have usurped the native red squirrel and how the country has reacted to this - not well is the answer. It's an entertaining read, pitting the villainous greys against the sanctified reds and drawing on multiple sources as diverse as parliamentary records to headlines from the Daily Star."-- "This England"
"Frisky, alert and as industrious as his subjects, Peter Coates brilliantly narrates the history of our entangled relationship with the squirrel, red and grey. We've kept them as pets and given them personalities, but also eaten them and put bounties on their heads; we've made the grey a regrettable symbol of irresistible Americanisation and the red an embattled but beautifully fragile symbol of Britain in decline. Squirrels continue indifferent, clinging on here, thriving there."--Matthew Kelly, author of 'The Women Who Saved the English Countryside'
"As Coates's splendidly rich book demonstrates in deep cultural detail, the long 'squirrel wars' of 20th-century Britain are a microcosm of wider arguments about biological belonging and what he nicely terms 'the emotional ecology of home.'"-- "The Guardian"
"The fact is that, as Peter Coates makes clear in this magnificent survey of Britain's 'squirrel wars', there is little real difference between greys and reds, apart from the grey's greater adaptability and superior food- finding skills . . . As its subtitle suggests, Coates's book - surely the best and most complete there will ever be on this subject - considers the deeper significance of the 'squirrel wars.'"-- "Literary Review"
"As we approach the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the grey squirrel to Britain, Peter Coates looks at how the greys have usurped the native red squirrel and how the country has reacted to this - not well is the answer. It's an entertaining read, pitting the villainous greys against the sanctified reds and drawing on multiple sources as diverse as parliamentary records to headlines from the Daily Star."-- "This England"
