Nature's Fading Chorus

A look at the ways in which humankind's understanding of its place in nature has changed through the course of Western history. It features an anthology of writings on amphibians drawn from the entire Western natural history tradition, beginning with Aristotle's "Inquiry Concerning Animals", written in the fourth century BC, and continues through recent scientific accounts of the sudden and alarming global declines in amphibian species. The pieces presented here not only reveal much about amphibian life but also provide insight into the worldviews of the many writers, scientists and naturalists featured, including Pliny the Elder, Gilbert White, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Darwin, T.H. Huxley, Stephen Jay Gould, George Orwell and many others.