Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293168 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Fewer than 17,000 wild horses remain in the U.S., down from 2,000,000 in 1900; Ryden's narrative tells what has happened to them and why. In a 1970 review, PW called this "a richly researched and well-written book with an unusual appeal." Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

From the Back Cover
No wild animal captures the spirit of North America quite so powerfully as the wild horse - nor has any faced such diverse and potent enemies. In this provocative account, Hope Ryden - who helped to ensure the passage of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which grants mustangs special protection - combs the history of these proud and noble horses. Descended from the Spanish horses riden by the conquistadors, they evolved into the tough and intelligent ponies that Indians - and later, explorers and cowboys - learned to rely on. From the period when wholesale extermination of the buffalo was underway until recent times, commercial and political interests have sought to eliminate the wild horses as varmints. In the latest update to this classic story, Ryden tells of the successes and failures in the last ten years of regulation, and has added stunning new color photographs. The subject of a front-page article in The New York Times when it was first published, America's Last Wild Horses continues to be a compelling testament to the life of a uniquely American symbol of grace and wildness, and is a must read for horse lovers and Western history enthusiasts everywhere. (6 X 9, 360 pages, color photos, b&w photos)

Customer Reviews

Full of Information!
This is an excellent resource for anyone interested in wild horses and mustangs. The author does a great job of providing historical knowledge and facts about the early relationship between wild horses and men, and about how horses roamed America before they were reintroduced by Europeans. The author also discusses current issues involving mustangs and their future in the American West. This book is so good I definately needed it for my personal collection.

A remarkable book. Conveys meaning, insight, understanding, and sensitivity.
This book first came to my attention when I saw a review of it in Time Magazine, 1970(!), and then again in a National Geographic issue 1977.

My first copy (Ballantine Books, Inc. May 1973) became so dog-eared and worn, that I bought the revised edition (Lyons Press) as a gift to myself in Dec 2000.

Quite a remarkable book in it's history, coverage and research. The mustang has been much maligned by ranchers and the U.S. government as a nuisance and classified as "domestic strays," thus various methods have been used to round up these poor beasts (remember the film "The Misfits"?)and subject them to every kind of mistreatment imagineable, including death.

Thankfully, through the efforts of Ms Ryden and her book, and various animal protection agencies, we now recognize the important contribution and legacy that these horses have played in the history and settlement of the American west. They are the only living heritage and symbol of the history of the west, and as such, should be granted protection as an endangered species from all levels of government in the U.S.

A truly wonderful book. A must have for every horselover. Belongs with Ms Ryden's companion book "Wild Horses I Have Known" which features full colour, full page, never before published photographs not seen in her first book.

Good read but written with a distinct pro-Canada bias
I learned a lot about how the West was formed from this book. Hope has done some wonderful research on this topic. I agree with Hope about the US government's mistreatment of wild animals. They're disgusting and they're still spewing their false propaganda to get the naive American public to believe their falsehoods. However, Hope makes several extremely pro-Canada opinions which I disagree about. First of all, the Canadian government has allowed wild horse hunting to be legal, even today. There are only 200 wild horses left in Canada, compared to about 37,000 (BLM estimates - who knows how truthful they are) in the American wild. Canada treats its wild animals dastardly. Each year, hundreds of thousands of baby seals are slaughtered for their fur. Their bloody carcasses are strewn on the virgin white snow, a sad and tragic reminder of the callousness of the Canadian government to its wild animals. They're no better than the US government when it comes to wild animals and I think in some ways, the US government is better than their northern counterparts, especially over the last thirty odd years. Canada also has an ancient and very archaic domestic animal protection law. Last year, animal protection agencies worked to have a new, tougher law passed but it was defeated in Parliament.