Reel Nature

"How the wildlife documentary got from Roosevelt to Disneyworld is a story of charlatans, hucksters, crooks, imaginative cameramen, brilliant zoology and shameless appeal to the sex and violence of life as cinema audiences have grown to expect it to be. Mitman . . . tells the American version of this lurid celluloid safari."—Tim Radford, The Guardian

"American wildlife film-makers . . . abandoned truth in favor of more alluring lode stars. Reel Nature is an admirable history of why they did so. . . . Very well told."—Stephen Mills, Times Literary Supplement

"While nature films have had a positive impact on our understanding of nature, the whole truth about our place in the web of life has been left on the cutting-room floor."—Booklist

"As the popularity of natural history television continues to soar, we need a book like this to help us understand the influences that this 'electronic environment' may have on the ultimate survival of our natural one."—Thomas Veltre, Wildlife Conservation Society

"A wonderful book that takes the reader into the worlds of dog and dolphin TV stars, on-screen wildlife conservation, and popular nature films. Readers will never see their animal familiars in the same way again."—Donna Haraway, University of California, Santa Cruz

"Few books offer greater insight into the cultural history of American ideas of nature during the twentieth century than this one. Whether one cares about the history of filmmaking, the evolution of American environmental attitudes, or the ways that science, commerce, and entertainment have shaped each other in the creation of American consumer culture, Reel Nature is essential reading."—William Cronon, from the Foreword