Wildlife in America was published by Viking Press in 1959, with illustrations by Bob Hines, and established Peter Matthiessen’s reputation as one of America’s foremost nature writers. Written when Matthiessen was only thirty-two, it is a comprehensive, species-by-species account of the destruction of American wildlife — from the passenger pigeon and the bison to the whooping crane and the California condor — that combines scientific rigor with literary grace and moral urgency.
The Book
The structure is chronological and ecological, moving through American history from the perspective of its non-human inhabitants:
Pre-contact abundance — Matthiessen reconstructs the staggering biodiversity of pre-Columbian North America: billions of passenger pigeons darkening skies for days, bison herds that took hours to pass, forests teeming with species now gone or endangered.
The era of destruction — from the earliest European settlements through the nineteenth century, a systematic account of how commercial hunting, habitat destruction, and deliberate extermination campaigns annihilated species after species. The chapters on the passenger pigeon and the bison are particularly devastating.
The conservation response — the emergence of game laws, national parks, and the wildlife refuge system in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Current status (as of 1959) — species-by-species assessment of America’s endangered wildlife, with sober projections about which could be saved and which were likely doomed.
Significance
The book appeared three years before Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and represents an early articulation of the ecological consciousness that would transform American culture in the 1960s and 1970s. Where Carson focused on the chemical poisoning of the environment, Matthiessen focused on direct destruction — hunting, clearing, draining, paving — the physical elimination of habitat and species.
The book has been revised and updated twice (1987 and 1995), each edition reflecting changes — some hopeful, some dire — in the status of American wildlife. The 1987 edition added coverage of marine mammals and extended the analysis through the Reagan era’s environmental rollbacks.
Collecting Wildlife in America
First edition (Viking Press, New York, 1959): Green cloth binding with gilt lettering. Dust jacket with wildlife illustration. Illustrations by Bob Hines throughout.
Identification points:
- Viking Press imprint
- “First published in 1959” stated
- Hines illustrations throughout
- 304 pages
Market values: Fine copies in dust jacket bring $150–$400. As Matthiessen’s first major nonfiction book, it has the authority of a career-establishing work.
Signed copies: $400–$800. Uncommon from this early in his career.
The 1987 revised edition (Viking Penguin) is collected separately ($50–$100) as a substantially expanded work.
The book belongs alongside Carson’s Silent Spring, Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and Thoreau’s Walden in the American nature writing canon. Its combination of scientific accuracy, literary quality, and moral seriousness established the template for serious environmental writing.