SAVING ALL THE PARTS: Reconciling Economics and...

SAVING ALL THE PARTS: Reconciling Economics and the Endangered Species Act by Rocky Barker (Island Press: $15.95; 268 pp., illustrated, paperback original); THE EYE OF THE ELEPHANT: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness by Delia & Mark Owens (Houghton Mifflin: $11.95; 305 pp., illustrated); VOICES FROM AFRICA: Local Perspectives on Conservation edited by Dale Lewis & Nick Carter (World Wildlife Fund: $19.95; 216 pp., paperback original). In his analysis of the impact of the Endangered Species Act on the future of the Pacific Northwest, Barker argues that the region faces an avoidable crisis due to mismanagement, shortsightedness and greed. Once-abundant species of salmon are listed as endangered, their numbers artificially bolstered with weak, poorly adapted fish from hatcheries; grizzly bears, wolves, bald eagles and other animals have fared as poorly. Barker is unsparing in his criticism of the Reagan and Bush administrations’ policy of allowing the timber industry to extract unsustainable harvests from the nation’s forests: “Had reasonable management programs been put in place early in the 1980s, perhaps as a result of following the mandate of the Endangered Species Act, the Pacific Northwest would be better off economically and environmentally today.” Overpopulation, overgrazing, deforestation and poaching have devastated the wildlife of Africa. Delia and Mark Owens sought to save “the old, wild Africa” in a remote preserve in Zambia, only to discover that the elephants, buffalo and antelope were being slaughtered by poachers, often with the connivance of corrupt officials. Although their intentions are noble, their willingness to resort to vigilante tactics makes their expanded journal discomforting in places. Significantly, their efforts proved most successful when they instituted programs that offered local tribes alternate sources of income and demonstrated the economic value of the animals as tourist attractions. The authors in “Voices From Africa” also stress the need for “African solutions” to the problems of wildlife conservation. Some of the papers are challenging and revealing, but many writers prefer to hark back to a vague, Pre-Colonial Eden and ignore the massive destruction of fauna that has occurred in the decades since independence.

SHE NEEDED ME by Walter Kirn (Washington Square Press: $10; 227 pp.). Kirn’s dark novel takes the reader inside the twisted mind of Weaver Walquist, a troubled anti-abortion activist for whom religion has become another drug. Although Christian fundamentalism and images of fetuses have provided Walquist with a way of escaping his unhappy past, his commitment crumbles when a woman he “rescues” demands his emotional support. Despite qualms about succumbing to temptation, Walquist is eager to surrender himself to anyone he perceives as stronger--even a seemingly helpless unwed mother. The grim power of Kirn’s prose fulfills the promise of “My Hard Bargain,” his earlier collection of short stories.

DAYS OF OBLIGATION: An Argument With My Mexican Father by Richard Rodriguez (Penguin: $11; 230 pp.). In a series of articulate essays, Rodriguez describes his struggle to overcome his alienation and forge a coherent identity. His search for his spiritual roots takes him outside mainstream America to the English literature he loves, to the recherche world of San Francisco’s gay community, to the tiny Mexican village where his father grew up, to an earlier time in North American history: “I take it as an Indian achievement that I am alive, that I am Catholic, that I speak English, that I am an American. My life began, it did not end, in the 16th century.” Rodriguez’s eloquent prose offers important reading at a time when an ethnically diverse Los Angeles is struggling to define itself.

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS SHOT: Memories and Tributes to a Slain President as told to Dear Abby (Andrews & McMeel: $6.95; 146 pp., illustrated, paperback original). As the 30th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination approaches, syndicated columnist Abigail Van Buren asked her readers for their memories of that sorrowful day--and received more than 300,000 submissions. A reader from Vermont sums up the tone of the collection with the conclusion, “And on a day when we all felt very much alone, we really were very much together.”

THROUGH THE IVORY GATE by Rita Dove (Vintage: $11; 278 pp.). A gentle, almost playful tone marks this novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove. Material success has eluded Virginia King, an aspiring Afro-American actress and cellist: She teaches puppetry workshops to school children as an artist-in-residence. When her peripatetic schedule takes her to her childhood home of Akron, she stumbles onto long-buried secrets that haunt her emotionally distant mother and industrious father. These discoveries enable King to come to terms with her own ambitions and desires, and determine what she wants from life, rather than what her relatives expect.

ROBERT STACY-JUDD: Mayan Architecture and the Creation of a New Style text by David Gebhard, photography by Anthony Peres (Capra Press: $30; 166 pp., paperback original). An eccentric British architect with a flair for the flamboyant, Robert Stacy-Judd attempted to infuse Meso-American elements into Art Deco. The results were always extraordinary and often hilarious. Gebhard surveys this bizarre, largely forgotten chapter of Southern California’s architectural past with intelligence and good humor that never devolves into mockery.