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The Roundtable

Leila Philip's "Beaverland" takes a deep-dive into beavers' impact on America

By Sarah LaDuke

Published December 7, 2022 at 11:10 AM EST

Award-winning writer Leila Philip’s new book “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America” highlights – through historical research and contemporary storytelling – how beavers played an oversized role in American history – and may prove to influence the country’s ecological future.

Beautifully written and exhaustively researched, “Beaverland” reveals the ways in which one odd and industrious creature and the trade surrounding it has shaped history, culture, and our environment. The book will teach you more than you ever imagined you might want to know about the beavers anatomy, lifestyle, and place in history. We could easily fill this whole interview *just* talking about beaver castor - or beaver tail - or Beaver Woman Dorothy Richards - or John Jacob Astor amassing his millions.

Leila Philip will celebrate the release of “Beaverland” in two events in our region this week - the first in an Oblong Books event at Morton Memorial Library in Rhinebeck, New York tonight, the second at Hudson Hall in Hudson, NY on Friday, December 9.

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The Roundtable beaver beavers Ecology Environment history animal animals

Sarah LaDuke

Sarah has worked in public radio since 2006. She grew up in Saranac Lake, New York where she worked part-time at Pendragon Theatre all through high school and college. She graduated from UAlbany in 2006 with a BA in English and started at WAMC a few weeks later as a part-time board-op in the control room. Through a series of offered and seized opportunities she is now the Senior Contributing Producer of The Roundtable and Producer of The Book Show. During the main thrust of the Covid-19 pandemic shut-down, Sarah hosted a live Instagram interview program "A Face for Radio Video Series." On it, Sarah spoke with actors, musicians, comedians, and artists about the creative activities they were accomplishing and/or missing. She is on the board of WAM Theatre and lives in Albany, New York with her husband, Paul, and their dog, Doritos.

See stories by Sarah LaDuke

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