Russell A Mittermeier

A critical compendium of the life, work, and photo-documentary archive of American zoologist Harold Coolidge Jr., whose pioneering study of primates and leadership role in co-founding the first international conservation organization helped shape the global environmental movement. Told through transcripts of interviews conducted in the years following Coolidge receiving the J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation (1980), Nature's Scion centers on the first-hand account of Coolidge’s expeditions to Liberia, Congo, and Southeast Asia, shedding light on the moral responsibility of human encounters with animals in the wild and on how a movement originating in the ethos of hunting and the patronage of colonialism became focused on stewardship and global cooperation. Coolidge dedicated his life to the animals he studied, later co-founding the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) after the Second World War. His interviews offer insight into the people who became "nature's diplomats" as well as intimately connecting readers to postwar institutions that have altered our laws and perception of natural environments. Recounting the Harvard African Expedition to Liberia and the Belgian Congo in 1926–27 and the 1928–29 Kelley-Roosevelt Asian Expedition, which he led for Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, Coolidge takes us into the most exciting and controversial realms of species research and exploration. Understood within the changing context of colonization in the early 20th century, the expeditions Coolidge participated in were not only important for our understanding of the animals themselves, but also for the role of medical science in natural history and the emergence of institutionally separate fields of study. Coolidge’s account allows us to understand the origins of modern-day conservation as a movement pioneered by a community of men who were not just passionate conservationists, but also hunters and outdoorsmen. While Coolidge’s own views about the Western presence in Africa and Southeast Asia keep pace with social developments of his time, as they shift and modernize, they demonstrate achievements of involving more stakeholders and voices. Additional framing content is offered by Chief Conservation Officer of re:wild, Russell Mittermeier and professor of art, Miles Coolidge.

Continuing in the distinguished tradition of "Hotspots", Conservation International offers here a new, lushly illustrated volume that examines transboundary conservation areas - environmentally endangered regions that sprawl across international borders and contain multiple protected areas. Recent studies estimate that there are now 188 transboundary conservation areas in 112 countries, making up about 17 percent of the designated protected areas around the world. This book specifically examines 28 of these areas, found across all continents and in several oceans. Eminent scientists and conservationists contribute detailed histories of the areas, from the birth of the initial conservation efforts to the latest research that reveals new regions and assesses the success of the programs to protect existing ones. Accompanying the analyses are Conservation International's trademark vibrant full-color photographs that powerfully document these rapidly disappearing treasures.

For decades, Conservation International has devoted itself not only to saving endangered regions on the planet but also to chronicling, in lavish volumes, the biodiversity of these areas. These volumes, according to Choice, are "a superbly produced...source of hard-to-find information on biodiversity, biogeography, and conservation." "Hotspots Revisited" continues this rich tradition, drawing on the organization's continuing work to identify, research, and document biologically diverse yet dangerously threatened regions. The first "Hotspots" volume identified twenty-five endangered regions; "Hotspots Revisited" reveals nine additional areas, from Melanesia to northern Mexico, that now meet the same criteria. "Hotspots Revisited" presents the most up-to-date analyses of the ecology of these endangered areas - including new information on freshwater fish and other animal populations. But the heart of the volume is the hundreds of vibrant color photographs of the animals and plants under threat. Magnificent in conception and flawless in execution, "Hotspots Revisited" will be equally at home on a scientist's shelf or an ecotourist's coffee table.