Sublime

After Rick finished A Society of Wolves, he traveled to western Colorado and spent two days in the land that had been home to one of the last wolves known to have lived in the state. Gazing out over the juniper and sage, he was moved to perform a ceremony of sorts in memory of the wolf, who was known as Rags the Digger. He played a song written by

“Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa.”

it had a pharmacy label indicating that it was intended for “PATIENT: HARE,” listing my address and my name as the animal’s “OWNER.” I smiled, since nothing could be further from the truth. The leveret defied ownership, belonging only to itself.

Laughlin’s credo was simple: “To purify the breeding stock of the race at all costs.” As journalist Edwin Black notes in his 2003 book, War Against the Weak, Laughlin’s plan of attack was threefold: “sterilization, mass incarceration and sweeping immigration restrictions.” In furtherance of these goals, Laughlin created the imposingly named, feroci