Beloved Beasts describes the vital role of scientists and activists such as Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, reveals the origins of organizations like the Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund, explores current efforts to protect species such as the whooping crane and the black rhinoceros, and confronts the darker side of conservation, long shadowed by racism and colonialism. Now, as the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change escalate, conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species—including our own.