Roger Thompson

Roger Thompson writes American nonfiction that connects travel, environmental history, and close observation of place. No Word for Wilderness, published by Ashland Creek Press in 2018, examines the small populations of brown bears living in Italy’s central Apennines and northern Alps. Thompson follows conservationists, scientists, park officials, farmers, and local communities as they debate how bears can survive in densely inhabited landscapes. The book distinguishes the endangered Marsican population in Abruzzo from bears reintroduced farther north, showing that the two groups face different ecological and political pressures. Thompson’s experience directing writing and rhetoric at Stony Brook University accompanies a background that includes wilderness guiding and environmental education. No Word for Wilderness uses field reporting and historical research to test assumptions about untouched nature in a country where human settlement has shaped land for centuries. Its argument rests on coexistence: preserving rare wildlife requires institutions and residents to negotiate risk, livelihood, habitat, and shared responsibility.