We spoke with historian Frank Van Nuys about his fascinating book, Varmints and Victims: Predator Control in the American West.

Varmints and Victims puts the debate over predator control into historical context, tracing the West’s relationship with charismatic predators like grizzlies, wolves, and cougars from unquestioned eradication to ambivalent recovery efforts. The book shows how the story of predator control is in many ways the story of the American West itself, from early attempts to connect the frontier region to mainstream American life and economics to present ideas about the nature and singularity of the region.