Wolf: Legend, Enemy, Icon

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This is about thousands of years of interaction between humans and
wolves, and how that interaction has evolved. Grambo, a Saskatchewan
writer with many nature books to her credit, presents the concept that
the way people view wolves has changed dramatically at least three
times.

First, in ancient civilizations, wolves were rescuers and healers. They
were believed to step forward to help people in trouble, even to the
extent of acting as foster parents for human children. This was the
period when the wolf was admired and respected, when warriors attempted
to imitate its skill and shamans evoked its powers to heal and
strengthen human’s courage and skill. Wolf symbolism became a proud
part of European heraldry and North American Aboriginal culture.

As humans moved from hunting to farming, wolves helped themselves to
livestock and so became the enemy. Soon they were considered symbols of
darkness and evil, at one with witches and werewolves as objects of fear
and terror.

More recently, wolves have been moved to a position of honour by the
environmental movement. They’re now a “symbol of the nobility of
nature” and an icon for all that’s pure and desirable in the concept
of wilderness.

The text does not cover the natural history of wolves, except for a
chapter on pack behaviour and the rearing of cubs.

A lavish selection of 150-plus photos of wolves and of artifacts
depicting wolves illustrates the text. The artifacts are identified, but
the large colour photos by Daniel Cox lack captions, giving no
information on the type of wolf or location.

An appendix gives physical characteristics, range, population, and
status for red, grey, and Ethiopian wolves and wolflike animals.
There’s an extensive bibliography and a practical index. The book is
visually attractive and the text easy to read.