Coming Full Circle: A Sweeping Saga of Conservation Stewardship Across America, by father-daughter team Budd Titlow and Mariah Tinger, is indeed as broad a saga as the subtitle advertises. The bulk of the novel follows a family line’s evolving relationship with the natural world, beginning with Thaddeus Adams in 1820 down to twins Shiloh and Sunny Childers-Nkosi in 2024. In the early generations that relationship means learning to coexist with the natural world, such as Thaddeus in his hunting and exploring on the frontier or his immediate descendants confronting poachers, while later generations take to government agencies and even the U.S. Senate to confront lobbyists, business interests, and short-sighted government officials.

Titlow and Tinger write in their prologue that their goal is to illustrate the concepts of biodiversity and the circle of life. These themes are what make the wide-ranging story feel coherent. For example, they show us what these concepts look like up-close when Thaddeus reflects on the cycle of birth and death among the wildlife he encounters on the frontier, while later on we get a broader view as Sunny and Shiloh speak about passing environmental protection legislation.

The authors are open about their goal of promoting conservation efforts, and at times the characters’ reflections and speeches can feel deeply personal. Most of the characters, heroes and villains alike, provide a very focused perspective of the singular idea they are meant to convey. This is a compelling story about conservationism with little deviation from that narrative theme. That said, Titlow and Tinger do succeed in drawing the reader in to this family’s story. We see the central characters’ entire lives, often from birth to death, good times and bad, and by the end it’s hard not to feel almost like a part of this family so that even those not committed to the book’s social/political message can’t help but root for these people. This impassioned and edifying book is ultimately worth reading for nature-lovers and those who find such wide-ranging stories compelling.

Pages: 688 | ASIN: B0BG98CCWF

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/28/coming-full-circle/