For the Wild explores the ways in which the commitments of radical environmental and animal-rights activists develop through powerful experiences with the more-than-human world during childhood and young adulthood. The book addresses the question of how and why activists come to value nonhuman animals and the natural world as worthy of protection. Emotions and memories of wonder, love, compassion, anger, and grief shape activists’ protest practices and help us understand their deep-rooted dedication to the planet and its creatures. Drawing on analyses of activist art, music, and writings, as well as interviews and participant-observation in activist communities, Sarah M. Pike delves into the sacred duties of these often misunderstood and marginalized groups with openness and sensitivity.

About the Author

Sarah M. Pike is Professor of Comparative Religion at California State University, Chico, and the author of Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community and New Age and Neopagan Religions in America.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: For All the Wild Hearts

1. Freedom and Insurrection around a Fire
2. At the Turn of the Millennium: Youth Culture and the Roots of Contemporary Activism
3. Childhood Landscapes of Wonder and Awe
4. Into the Forest
5. “Liberation’s Crusade Has Begun”: Hare Krishna Hardcore Youth and Animal Rights Activism
6. Circles of Community, Strategies of Inclusion
7. Rites of Grief and Mourning

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

"Pike’s For the Wild provides an essential and well-structured resource for scholars interested in the intersection between environmentalism and alternative spiritualities."
— Reading Religion

"For the Wild is a timely book on a neglected area of inquiry in the emerging and increasingly significant field of religion and ecology."
— Nova Religio

"In a novel application of religious studies to the science of social movements, Sarah M. Pike emphasizes the vital role that emotion and ritual play in the making of protest. ... For the Wild will likely be of interest to scholars and students of social movements and environmental protest, but also for social change makers such as non-profits, community organizations, and grassroots activists seeking to better understand their own histories and motivations."
— Social Movement Studies

"Challenges the politics of knowledge and the ways knowledge discipline and shape different bodies different bodies differently."
— Religious Studies Review

“Original and engaging, For the Wild provides a much-needed primer on the radical environmental and animal-rights activist movements—movements that are highly relevant today and can be expected to grow in decades to come. There is no book that I’m aware of that covers this material with the ethnographic depth and nuance provided here.”—Adrian Ivakhiv, Professor of Environmental Thought and Culture, University of Vermont

“Radical environmentalists are often demonized by both the media and law-enforcement officials. Here at last is a work that does them justice. In this well-written and documented book, Sarah Pike gives ethnographic voice to a number of radical environmentalists—many of whom have gone to jail—and she reveals that the actions of such individuals are often heroic acts of love. This remarkable book makes insightful contributions to our understanding of human relationships to the nonhuman world and to the larger study of religion, nature, and ecology.”—David L. Haberman, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Indiana

Awards

CHOICE Book Award, Choice

About the Book

About the Author

Table of Contents

Reviews

Awards