Super Short Summary

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds by Christopher Cokinos blends memoir, natural history, and investigation to recount the extinction of six North American bird species: the Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon, Labrador Duck, Heath Hen, Great Auk, and Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Through historical context and personal travel notes, Cokinos depicts the human actions that led to their demise, emphasizing the need for environmental conservation to prevent further loss. The book features descriptions of the deaths of individual animals.