Forbidden Creatures

Peter Laufer, winner of major awards for excellence in reporting, is an independent journalist, broadcaster and documentary filmmaker working in traditional and new media. While a globe-trotting correspondent for NBC News, he also reported, wrote, and produced several documentaries and special event broadcasts for the network that dealt in detail with crucial social issues. Laufer’s books include The Question of Consent: Innocence and Complicity in the Glen Ridge Rape Case. He’s written works on the fall of Communism in Europe (titled Iron Curtain Rising), a severe criticism of contemporary talk radio, Inside Talk Radio: America's Voice Or Just Hot Air, and a book version of the documentary about Americans in prisons overseas, also titled Nightmare Abroad. Another of his books, Made in Mexico, published by the National Geographic Society, deals, in a juvenile environment, with cross border issues between California and Mexico. Laufer has written Exodus to Berlin, a book version of his study of the resurgence of the Jewish population in Germany and the concurent rise of right-wing violence, and Wetback Nation: The Case for Opening the Mexican-American Border. With Markos Kounalakis he’s written Hope Is a Tattered Flag, based on conversations from “Washington Monthly on the Radio”, the nationally-syndicated radio show they co-anchored. Peter Laufer was the charter anchor of the radio program “National Geographic World Talk”, a nationally-syndicated show he created. He hosted “The Peter Laufer Show” Sundays on the San Francisco Clear Channel radio station Green 960. He is currently the James Wallace Chair in Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. More about his work, which has received the George Polk, Edward R. Murrow, and other awards, at peterlaufer.com.

"Forbidden Creatures addresses an important issue with major environmental and ethical consequences-the alarming spread of animal smuggling. Let's hope it helps stem the tide." -Allison Chin, president, Sierra Club "This book is a wild romp through backyards and bedrooms full of exotic-sometimes dangerous-creatures. And it is an exploration of the human psyche: What drives some people to become outlaws just to satisfy their desire to subjugate nature's other beasts? Laufer has hit another home run." -Mark Bauman, National Geographic SocietyIn praise of The Dangerous World of Butterflies: "[A] compelling, all-angles examination... Laufer delivers an absorbing science lesson for fans of the colorful bugs." --Publishers Weekly "Recommended for scientists and lay readers who enjoyed Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief." -Library Journal "Like The Orchid Thief, The Dangerous World of Butterflies takes us deep into the dark heart of obsessed collectors and the passionate activism of people working to repopulate species like the Palos Verdes blue. Worlds within worlds: Laufer, a veteran reporter on cultural and political borders, understands how these worlds cross and collide. His book is a Venn diagram of the beautiful and bizarre." --Los Angeles Times "[Laufer's] book is charming and his attention to detail, combined with a real gift for describing these fascinating characters -- like calling entomologist Arthur Shapiro "an endless litany of intriguing butterfly stories" -- made me want to read everything else he has written." --Andrew Ervin, Washington Post "...Laufer's The Dangerous World of Butterflies packs real entertainment wallop in a book filled with informed tidbits custom-designed for cocktail hour." --P. Joseph Potocki, The Bohemian "A charming ... meditation on butterflies and the people who love them." --Kirkus "The Dangerous World of Butterflies: the Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists by Peter Laufer is an eye-opening peek into the world of butterfly collecting. From true crime to heated debates between butterfly conservationists and butterfly farmers, this book reads like a novel." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette