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• Incisive, humorous and heartbreaking oral histories of people living in formerly Communist countries holding fast to their former lives, from one of Poland’s finest journalists. • Like Anna Funder’s Stasiland or Svetlana Alexievich’s Secondhand Time, readers are guided through the aftereffects of authoritarian rule and the challenges of freedom via Szablowski’s immediate, heartwrenching stories of the people who lived through the collapse of Communism. • The bold and brilliant allegory at the centre of Dancing Bears is of bears raised and trained by Bulgarian Gypsies. With the fall of Communism, the bears were released into a wildlife refuge. But even today, whenever the bears see a human, they still get up on their hind legs to dance. • Dancing Bears traces the remarkable true stories of people throughout Eastern Europe and Cuba who, like the bears, are now free, but seem nostalgic for a time when they were not. • Szablowski is an award-winning Polish journalist—his reportage on illegal immigrants flocking to the EU won the European Parliament Journalism Prize, and his previous book about Turkey, The Assassin from Apricot City, won an English PEN Award. • This book comes at a pivotal moment for oral histories, following the success of 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Svetlana Alexievich’s Secondhand Time. • For fans of Stasiland by Anna Funder, Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick and Tale of Two Cities by John Freeman.
This engaging introduction to the Russian folktale considers the origin, structure, and language of folktales; tale-tellers and their audiences; the relationship of folktales to Russian ritual life; and the folktale types that are translated in subsequent volumes of The Complete Russian Folktale.
Since the beginning of human history, bears have been regarded as animals of great power. Ethnobotanist and cultural anthropologist Wolf Storl, who spent years in the wilderness with bears, explores the fascinating relationship between bears and humans, including the history, mythology, healing lore, and biology of this formidable creature. Storl takes the reader from the bear caves of the Neanderthals to the bear-worshipping Siberian tribes of today, from the extinct cave bear to the modern teddy bear. Bears were traditionally seen as a kind of "forest human" under whose shaggy fur a king or a god was hidden, he explains. Vividly illustrating the power of myths and fairy tales to reveal more than scientific treatises about the true nature of beings--especially in the case of bears--Storl restores this magnificent animal to its rightful place at the forefront of the human imagination as well as among the dwellers of the forest.
We've been meeting bears in the wilderness, and in our dreams, since the dawn of human history. Celebrated in art and myth since we began drawing on the walls of caves, they cast a long shadow over our collective subconscious. Wherever bears endure, they are an indicator of the health of their ecosystem. Their decline-some to the edge of extinction-foretells a bigger story: that of our planet's peril. In a series of remarkable journeys, Brian Payton travels the world in search of the eight remaining bear species. Along the way, he confronts poachers in the jungles of Cambodia, witnesses the cruelty of the bear bile trade in China, and delves into the politics of panda sex. From the reclusive spectacled bears of Peru to the man-eating sloth bears of India, Payton captures the power and beauty of these fascinating creatures while exploring their unique place within very different cultures. Vivid characters, exotic landscapes, and deft storytelling make for an unforgettable trek down the braided path of bear and human history.
Bears have fascinated people since ancient times. The relationship between bears and humans dates back thousands of years, during which time we have also competed with bears for shelter and food. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats, climate change, and illegal trade in their body parts, including the Asian bear bile market. The IUCN lists six bears as vulnerable or endangered, and even the least concern species, such as the brown bear, are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, but still ongoing. Covering all bears species worldwide, this beautifully illustrated volume brings together the contributions of 200 international bear experts on the ecology, conservation status, and management of the Ursidae family. It reveals the fascinating long history of interactions between humans and bears and the threats affecting these charismatic species.
The angry grizzly and the cuddly teddy: few animals possess such a range of personas as the bear. Here, Robert Bieder surveys the wealth of imagery, myths, and stories that surrounds the bear. Beginning with the dawn bear, the small dog-sized ancestor of all bears who hails from 25 million years ago, Bieder embarks on a fascinating exploration of the evolutionary history of the bear family, from extinct species such as the cave bear and giant short-faced bear to the mere eight species that survive today. Bear draws on cultural material from around the world to examine the various legends and myths surrounding the bear, including ceremonies and taboos that govern the hunting, killing, and eating of bears. The book also looks at the role of bears in modern culture as the subjects of stories, songs, and films; as exhibited objects in circuses and zoos; and, perhaps most famously, as toys. Bieder also considers the precarious future of the bear as it is threatened by loss of habitat, poaching, global warming, and disease and discusses the impact of human behavior on bears and their environments. Accompanied by numerous vibrant photographs and illustrations, and written in an engaging fashion, Bear is an appealing and informative volume for anyone who has curled up with Winnie-the-Pooh or marveled at this powerful king of the forest.
This book is also available in paperback. What is it like to rehabilitate sun bears in the rainforests of Malaysia? Why are sloth bears trained to dance? How is traditional Chinese medicine implicated in the deaths of black bears in North America? Bear Necessities answers all of these questions, and many more. Through the voices of activists, scientists, and educators, readers walk alongside those who pull sun bears from Vietnamese bile farms, track Andean bears in the rugged hills of Ecuador, work to protect Montana’s grizzlies in the courtroom, and gently heal the many wounded bears who live in sanctuaries around the world. Though almost every bear species is endangered or severely threatened, Bear Necessities offers hope through knowledge and understanding, which reside at the heart of change.
Presents a history of the ancient world, from 6000 B.C. to 400 A.D.
Of the status of bear species by distribution / Christopher Servheen -- An overview of bear conservation planning and implementation / Bernard Peyton, Christopher Servheen, and Stephen Herrero -- Genetics of the bears of the world / Lisette Waits, David Paetkau, and Curtis Strobeck -- The trade in bears and bear parts / Christopher Servheen -- Brown bear conservation action plan for North America (Ursus arctos). Alaska / Sterling D. Miller and John Schoen. Canada / Bruce McLellan and Vivian Banci. United States: grizzly bear in the Lower 48 / Christopher Servheen -- Brown bear conservation action plan for Europe (Ursus arctos). Austria / Georg Rauer. Bulgaria / Nikolai Spassov and G. Spiridonov. Finland / Erik S. Nyholm and Kai-Eerik Nyholm. France / Jean Jacques Camarra. Greece / George Mertzanis. Italy (Abruzzo) / Giorgio Boscagli. Italy (Trentino) / Fabio Osti. Norway / Ole Jakob Sørensen, Jon E. Swenson, and Tor Kvam. Poland / Witold Frackowiak, Roman Gula, and Kajetan Perzanowski. Romania / Ovidiu Ionescu. Slovakia / Pavel Hell and Slavomir Find'o. Spain: eastern and western Cantabria. Eastern Cantabrian subpopulation / Anthony P. Clevenger and Francisco J. Purroy. Western Cantabrian subpopulation / Javier Naves Cienfuegos and Carlos Nores Quesada. Sweden / Jon E. Swenson, Finn Sandegren, Anders Bjärvall, Robert Franzén, Arne Söderberg, and Petter Wabakken. Former Yugoslavia / Djuro Huber and Miha Adamic -- Brown bear conservation action plan for Asia (Ursus arctos). China: Heilonjiang black and brown bears / Cheng Jizhen. India / S. Sathyakumar. Japan: Hokkaido / Tsutomu Mano and Joseph Moll. Mongolia: Gobi bear / Thomas McCarthy. Russia / Igor Chestin -- American black bear conservation action plan (Ursus americanus) / Michael R. Pelton, Alex B. Coley, Thomas H. Eason, Diana L. Doan Martinez, Joel A. Pederson, Frank T. van Manem and Keith M. Weaver -- Spectacled bear conservation action plan (Tremarctos ornatus) / Bernard Peyton. Bolivia / Damián I. Rumiz and Jorge Salazar. Colombia / Jorge Orejuela and Jeffrey P. Jorgenson. Ecuador / Luis Suárez. Perú / Bernard Peyton, coordinator. Venezuela / Edgard Yerena, coordinator -- Asiatic black bear conservation action plan (Ursus thibetanus). China / Ma Yiqing and Li Xiaomin. India / S. Sathyakumar. Japan / Toshihiro Hazumi. Russia / Igor Chestin and Victor Yudin. Taiwan: Formosan black bear / Ying Wang. Vietnam: black bear and sun bear / Do Dinh Sam -- Sun bear conservation action plan (Helarctos malayanus) / Christopher Servheen. Lao PDR / Richard E. Salter -- Sloth bear conservation action plan (Melursus ursinus) / David L. Garshelis, Anup R. Joshi, James L.D. Smith, and Clifford G. Rice -- Giant panda conservation action plan (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) / Donald G. Read and Jien Gong -- Global status and management of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) / IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group.
A Best Book of the Year in The New Yorker, Economist, and Science News A Scientific American Best Staff Read Shortlisted for the Banff Centre Mountain Book Awards "Vivid and engrossing.… [A] celebration of beardom." —Richard Adams Carey, Wall Street Journal A global exploration of the eight remaining species of bears—and the dangers they face. Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory, from Indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to nineteenth-century fairytales and the modern toy shop. But as humans and bears come into ever-closer contact, our relationship nears a tipping point. Today, most of the eight remaining bear species are threatened with extinction. Some, such as the panda bear and the polar bear, are icons of the natural world; others, such as the spectacled bear and the sloth bear, are far less known. In Eight Bears, journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a globe-trotting journey to explore each bear’s story, whisking readers from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic; from the jungles of India to the backwoods of the Rocky Mountain West. She meets with key figures on the frontlines of modern conservation efforts—the head of a rescue center for sun and moon bears freed from bile farms, a biologist known as Papa Panda, who has led China’s panda-breeding efforts for almost four decades, a conservationist retraining a military radar system to detect and track polar bears near towns—to reveal the unparalleled challenges bears face as they contend with a rapidly changing climate and encroaching human populations. Weaving together ecology, history, mythology, and a captivating account of her travels and observations, Dickie offers a closer look at our volatile relationship with these magnificent mammals. Engrossing and deeply reported, Eight Bears delivers a clear warning for what we risk losing if we don’t learn to live alongside the animals that have shaped our cultures, geographies, and stories.