Mitch Reardon is a former park ranger in South Africa and Namibia and the author of Etosha: Life and Death on an African Plain. He turns his attention here to the more prosaic enterprise of wildlife management in Kruger National Park, and still manages to produce a book that will entertain general readers interested in African wildlife or conservation. It will be equally useful to professionals in wildlife management and park services. The book is organized with a chapter on each of a series of key species: elephants, impala, zebras and wildebeest, roan antelope, rhinoceros, African buffalo, giraffe, lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs, and hyenas. The author has done a fine job of simultaneously giving a guide to each species, and of using this species' story to further illuminate the complex patterns of interaction among species and the landscape over the many decades records have been kept at Kruger. Reardon is straightforward about past failures and excesses of "game management," that some predators kill people or livestock, that the practices of ranching peoples pressure some wild species and support others, and that one of the many things wild species do is compete with other wild species. He writes with great love of the animals and their environment, but without romanticizing them. Equally valuable, he does not engage in racial or man vs. nature politics. He offers surprising data: that cheetahs do better outside of national parks, for instance, because people tolerate them but kill competing lions. When there are controversies about how to protect a species, the author gives a clear account of all sides. His only concern is to understand and communicate how the natural cycles of life in and around Kruger work. Repeatedly, the information he gathers here shows that wildlife does well when animals are left alone with enough space to work out their own problems, free from severe human pressure from poaching, land development, or well-meaning wildlife managers. The book is richly illustrated with color photographs. Distributed by International Publishers Marketing. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)