Shadow Cat: Encountering the American Mountain Lion

Divided into three sections (natural history, encounters and government policies), Ewing (Going Wild in Washington and Oregon) and Grossman's collection of 20 brief essays and stories presents a multifaceted view of America's mountain lion, also known as the panther, cougar, puma and catamount. Though the selections--many original to this volume--are generally clearly written, some are zestier than others. Susan J. Tweit's ""Mountain Lion"" is little more than a list of the great cat's statistics, while Ted Williams's ""The Lion's Silent Return"" provides an impassioned view of the animal's history and the laws that threaten it. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas convincingly imagines a puma's trip into a city and provides useful advice on how to protect yourself from attack. However, Rick Bass's tale about a young man's first cougar sighting and Pam Houston's essay on how her search for Edward Abbey's mountain lion led her to discover other joys in the West don't match those authors' best work. Overall, though, this anthology, which also presents pieces by Terry Tempest Williams, David Quammen and Chris Bolgiano, among others, brings fresh material to what the editors call the ""debate over wildness and wilderness,"" and provides a wealth of information on the cat that once roamed from Canada to South America. (Apr.) FYI: Formerly an agent with Sterling Lord in New York, Grossman is now a media and publishing manager for Northwest Environment Watch in Portland.