COLEMAN, Jon T. 1970-

(Jon Thomas Coleman)

PERSONAL: Born 1970; married; children: Harry, Louise. Education: University of Colorado at Boulder, bachelor's and master's degrees; Yale University, Ph.D., 2003.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of History, University of Notre Dame, 219 O'Shaughnessy Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556. E-mail—coleman.63@nd.edu.

CAREER: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, assistant professor of history, 2004–.

AWARDS, HONORS: Egleston Prize, Yale University, best dissertation in American history, 2003; Beinecke Prize, Yale University, best dissertation in western American history, 2003.

WRITINGS:

Vicious: Wolves and Men in America, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Jon T. Coleman first became interested in the brutal treatment of wolves by colonial Americans when he was a graduate student at Yale University. His dissertation, titled "Wolves in American History," earned Coleman several awards and was revised for 2004 publication by Yale University Press. Vicious: Wolves and Men in America traces the history of the North American wolf from the time of the first European settlers through the twentieth century. In particular, Coleman describes in graphic detail the senseless torture of the animal at the hands of colonists. In an interview with Lila Guterman, a Chronicle of Higher Education contributor, Coleman offered one possible motivation for the early settlers' cruel treatment of the animals: "It has a lot to do with feelings of powerlessness or a feeling of losing control that went along with colonization, entering new landscapes and spaces…. Often conquering new lands does not live up to the promise you had going into it. Killing a wolf is a way to restore some kind of order."

Reviewing the book for Library Journal, Deborah Emerson found that "Coleman's witty and entertaining style will engage readers; it is well researched and documented." Benjamin Schwarz called Coleman "an indefatigable researcher" in an Atlantic Monthly article about the book. In a review for Audubon, Hillary Rosner described the book as an "ambitious yet relatively succinct work," adding, "Vicious bears down with the weight of natural history…. By revisiting a painful past, Coleman will help keep progress for today's wolves heading in the right direction."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Atlantic Monthly, September, 2004, Benjamin Schwarz, review of Vicious: Wolves and Men in America, p. 121.

Chronicle of Higher Education, October 15, 2004, Lila Guterman, "Americans' Brutal Near-Extermination of the Wolf," p. A12.

Library Journal, September 1, 2004, Deborah Emerson, review of Vicious, p. 183.

ONLINE

Audubon Online, http://magazine.audubon.org/ (January 13, 2006), Hillary Rosner, interview with Coleman.

University of Notre Dame Department of History Web site, http://www.nd.edu/∼history/ (June 7, 2005), "Jon T. Coleman."