Publisher's Synopsis
In 1889, a starving, struggling writer published an article in London's MacMillan's Magazine that criticized British attitudes toward their dogs. Although the author was unnamed when the publication appeared, such a furor was created that it gave the writer fame and notoriety that he would successfully exploit the rest of his life. Within a couple of years, the name W.H. Hudson became familiar to London's literary circles with his original essays on the natural history of La Plata in the Argentine and Patagonia, especially his descriptions of bird and other animal life. Today, however, Hudson is largely forgotten, remembered mostly for his novel Green Mansions, which is not exemplary of his best work. His masterpiece is his study of the shepherds of the English Downs, A Shepherd's Life, that contains some of his best writings about dogs. Hudson loved all life and was not the dog-hater as he was often portrayed. The purpose of this study of Hudson's writings is to provide an honest appraisal of his true feelings about dogs.
