Discusses the benefits and risks, as well as the economic and socio-political realities, of rewilding as a novel conservation tool.

1. Rewilding: a captivating, controversial, twenty-first century concept to address ecological degradation in a changing world Nathalie Pettorelli, Sarah M. Durant and Johan T. du Toit; 2. History of rewilding: ideas and practice David Johns; 3. For wilderness or wildness? Decolonising rewilding Kim Ward; 4. Pleistocene rewilding: an enlightening thought experiment Johan T. du Toit; 5. Trophic rewilding - ecological restoration of top-down trophic interactions to promote self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems Jens-Christian Svenning, Michael Munk and Andreas Schweiger; 6. Rewilding through land abandonment Steve Carver; 7. Rewilding and restoration James R. Miller and Richard J. Hobbs; 8. Understanding the factors shaping the attitudes towards wilderness and rewilding Nicole Bauer and Aline von Atzigen; 9. Health and social benefits of living with 'wild' nature Cecily Maller, Laura Mumaw and Benjamin Cooke; 10. The psychology of rewilding Susan Clayton; 11. The high art of rewilding: lessons from curating Earth art Marcus Hall; 12. Rewilding a country: Britain as a study case Christopher J. Sandom and Sophie Wynne-Jones; 13. Bringing back large carnivores to rewild landscapes John D. C. Linnell and Craig R. Jackson; 14. Rewilding cities Marcus Owens and Jennifer Wolch; 15. The role of translocation in rewilding Philip J. Seddon and Doug P. Armstrong; 16. Top-down control of ecosystems and the case for rewilding: does it all add up? Matt W. Hayward, Sarah Edwards, Bronwyn A. Fancourt, John D. C. Linnell and Erlend B. Nilsen; 17. Rewilding and the risk of getting new, unwanted ecological interactions Miguel Delibes-Mateos, Isabel C. Barrio, A. Márcia Barbosa, Íñigo Martínez-Solano, John E. Fa and Catarina C. Ferreira; 18. Auditing the wild: how do we assess if rewilding objectives are achieved? Richart T. Corlett; 19. Adaptive co-management and conflict resolution for rewilding across development contexts James R. A. Butler, Juliette C. Young and Mariella Marzano; 20. The future of rewilding: fostering nature and people in a changing world Sarah M. Durant, Nathalie Pettorelli and Johan T. du Toit.