Tracy Basile
Tracy Basile is a writer and professor who received a grant to write a nonfiction book for young adults called The Animal Peoples’ History of the United States. The book would place the human-animal relationship in context of American history and take the perspective of the animals, as much as humanly possible, while conveying to young adults the history, natural science, and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge of native and domesticated species. She writes:
The young adult (YA) readers that are my targeted population will be tomorrow’s professionals. The book I am writing fills a gap in their education right now. To honor these animals the next generation—Generation Green New Deal (GND)—needs to hear these stories and understand their significance. Generation GND is already bent on turning around climate change, slowing down species extinction and preserving what we have left of land and water and air for all living beings. The world they seek is a world of justice where movements merge and everyone is equal. This book will inspire them.
2021 Update:
Tracy has continued to work on her book that aims to “show how animals — and relationships with them — are a vital part of our nation’s past, present, and future.” The COVID-19 pandemic has impeded Tracy’s plans to travel to Yellowstone National Park, Montana, and upstate New York to conduct research her young adult nonfiction book. Until it is safe to travel, she has continued working on the book through other ways by researching content materials, searching for young adult nonfiction publishers, and discussing the project with her writer’s group. She has been interviewing animal activists, marine biologists and other experts, and researching Indigenous artists whose work she hopes to highlight in her book.