Human beings share the earth with many other living creatures and have dealt with them in many different ways. This collection of writings selected from a vast literature about animals is also about the people who have been inspired to write on that subject. Each narrative or description or exposition contributes something to an over-all picture of human beings' relations with and attitudes toward the animal kingdom.
Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970) began is career as a teacher at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and later on moved to become professor of dramatic literature at Columbia University. He also became a theater critic for The Nation where he wrote several books in the areas of literary biography and theoretical history. Some of his works include More Lives than One, The Forgotten Peninsula, and Human Nature and the Human Condition.