Finished 10:00pm on 4/29/20
All I can say, is that I tend to be interested in some quite obscure things. When I see a work that dives into one of these 'interest veins', I tend to get quite excited and fully immersed.
So when I saw a book by a Pulitizer Prize winner on wild horses, that was recommended by the wonderful bookshop I was visiting, I picked it up without hestitation and wasn't dissapointed.
Starting with the evolution of the horse, and then it's complex history and it's tangle with cultural identity in America, Philipps has written a masterful book that captures all angles and makes a solid argument for the place wild horses hold in America, the terrible system they live under now, and ways to improve it.
I particularly appreciated his perspective -- he admits he knows essentially nothing about horses themselves, but is instead focused on a love of 'wildness'. He talks to all sides in the argument, and at least from what I have seen, has written a canonical text on the subject.
Highly recommend.