Wild Things, Wild Places

June 6, 2016
Veteran actress Alexander’s latest offering is an impassioned if measured narrative of her explorations of little-known corners of the Earth with an eye toward celebration and conservation. A longtime nature enthusiast and conservation activist, Alexander (Command Performance) tracks her varied trips to distant locales, describing in intimate detail elements in ecosystems that may have been lost already or may yet be saved. On her adventure in the Andes of Peru, for example, she and her team delivered 5,000 polylepis trees to people who live in the high mountain community of Abra Malaga, answering a desperate need for replenishment of tree growth for heating fires—but a secondary motivation included creating a sustainable environment for the disappearing Royal Cinclodes bird, which depends on the polylepis tree for shelter. A tone of alarm at points arises from the otherwise measured cadence of the narration: “We barely have a generation, maybe 20 years, to slow carbon emission... before the results are catastrophic.” But the real force of the book resides in the author’s articulation of her exhilaration of the wonders of nature (particularly her love of birds) and her willingness to ford streams, slash through jungles, and scale mountains to defend it.

July 1, 2016
The stage and screen actress delivers a memoir focused on her wildlife conservation work.When she was the director of the National Endowment for the Arts in the mid-1990s, Alexander (Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics, 2000, etc.) famously butted heads with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who was attempting to eliminate support for the arts from the budget. Less well known are the author's activities in support of the conservation of endangered species. In her second memoir, Alexander chronicles her global travels to remote areas around the world--e.g., Belize, Thailand, Bhutan, Ecuador, Newfoundland, Madagascar--in search of rare wildlife. She describes accounts of the illegal, wanton killing of rhinoceroses for their horns, which are used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine and sell for as much as $100,000 on the black market. In Thailand, the government imports elephants to satisfy the tourist trade while, at the same time, vast networks of corrupt government officials permit the "slaughtering of tigers and other wild cats to supply the Asian trade in body parts." Alexander couples this grim picture with enthusiastic accounts of the exotic birds and animals she has seen on her global travels, and the transitions can be jarring. She begins with a report on a 1982 trip to the still relatively undeveloped "birder's paradise" of Belize, where, despite no sightings, she was thrilled to hear the "deep guttural cough" of a jaguar. The author also describes birding in Peru and recounts the experience of being greeted with a welcoming ceremony by New Guinean villagers in traditional costumes. While many readers will share the author's concerns about conservation, Alexander provides few new insights into the people and places she has visited, and the narrative hops from place to place without enough connecting elements between the anecdotes. A laudable effort that meets with mixed success.

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August 1, 2016
Renowned as an inspiring actor and intrepid advocate for the arts, Alexander has been awarded with Emmys and Tonys and served in the 1990s as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. What is less known about her life is her equally fierce devotion to environmental conservatism, animal rights, and birding. In this globe-trotting memoir, Alexander recounts how she came by such activist tendencies and profiles the indomitable field scientists who mentored her leadership roles in raising the public's awareness of threatened habitats and wildlife. She recounts her doggedly tracking the royal cinclodes and a rare sighting of an even rarer bird in the mountains of Peru, and she determinedly spots the elusive golden bamboo lemur in the wilds of Madagascar. From Idaho to India, Amazonia to East Africa, the Bahamas to Bhutan, Alexander reports on her encounters with endangered animals and birds as well as imperiled cultures in an intimate and important look at the state of wildlife conservation in an increasingly shrinking world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 1, 2016

Alexander provides an urbane survey of her world travels in pursuit of nature, succeeding admirably on several levels: descriptions of wildlife (especially birds), understanding of and empathy with local peoples, analysis of environmental problems, and compelling personal anecdotes. An actor's actor--veteran of 23 films and more than 100 plays, winner of a Tony and two Emmys--Alexander perhaps played her most important role as elegant steward of the embattled National Endowment for the Arts from 1993 to 1997. She traveled extensively, doing board work for major environmental organizations, including the National Audubon Society, putting her in touch with legendary research biologists such as George Schaller and Alan Rabinowitz. Expeditions to 20 countries such as Thailand, Belize, India, Brazil, and Peru are covered. Especially compelling is the author's account of trade in animal parts--e.g., shark fins, rhinoceros horns--for spurious health reasons, especially in South Asia. A solid, general bibliography and 73 illustrations enhance the text, as do glimpses into Alexander's personal life from childhood onward. VERDICT Highly recommended for all interested in travel, natural history, and environmental issues.--Henry T. Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016

A multiple-award-winning actress and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a wildlife activist, Alexander clarifies efforts to protect the world's endangered creatures while sharing her own involvement in the cause. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016

Alexander provides an urbane survey of her world travels in pursuit of nature, succeeding admirably on several levels: descriptions of wildlife (especially birds), understanding of and empathy with local peoples, analysis of environmental problems, and compelling personal anecdotes. An actor's actor--veteran of 23 films and more than 100 plays, winner of a Tony and two Emmys--Alexander perhaps played her most important role as elegant steward of the embattled National Endowment for the Arts from 1993 to 1997. She traveled extensively, doing board work for major environmental organizations, including the National Audubon Society, putting her in touch with legendary research biologists such as George Schaller and Alan Rabinowitz. Expeditions to 20 countries such as Thailand, Belize, India, Brazil, and Peru are covered. Especially compelling is the author's account of trade in animal parts--e.g., shark fins, rhinoceros horns--for spurious health reasons, especially in South Asia. A solid, general bibliography and 73 illustrations enhance the text, as do glimpses into Alexander's personal life from childhood onward. VERDICT Highly recommended for all interested in travel, natural history, and environmental issues.--Henry T. Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.