"Wild Games reveals the intricate customs, prohibitions, and symbolic meanings that surround taking animal life for Finns, Basques, Native Americans, Kazakhs, and other contemporary cultures. Writings on the hunt that ignore these practices, and the ways in which they are tied to both individual and collective identity, will now risk being woefully simplistic."
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>Editors Dennis Cutchins and Eric Eliason contend that hunters often don't perceive of themselves as separate from the wild but, rather, identify strongly with a natural order--integrated with, rather than standing apart from, the fluctuation of ecosystems. And they frequently don't see wild animals as "set apart" but understand them as food sources, competitors, friendly rivals, and even equals.
Eric A. Eliason is associate professor of English at Brigham Young University. He is the editor of Mormons and Mormonism: An Introduction to an American World Religion and author of the forthcoming Black Velvet Painting: Understanding the World's Most Maligned Art.