"The grey squirrel’s domination of Britain’s woodland over the past 150 years has enraged everyone from gamekeepers to prime ministers. Peter Coates discovers how the "American tree rat" became the furry mammal that Britons loved to hate."

BBC History

"As Coates’s splendidly rich book demonstrates in deep cultural detail, the long ‘squirrel wars’ of 20th-century Britain are a microcosm of wider arguments about biological belonging and what he nicely terms 'the emotional ecology of home.'"

The Guardian

“The fact is that, as Peter Coates makes clear in
 this magnificent survey of Britain’s ‘squirrel wars’, there is little
 real difference between greys and
 reds, apart from the grey’s greater adaptability and superior food-
finding skills . . . As its subtitle suggests, Coates’s book – surely the best and most complete there will ever be on this subject – considers the deeper significance of the ‘squirrel wars.’”

Literary Review

"Coates compares the fortunes of red and grey squirrels in the UK . . . Coates has written a comprehensive and informative guide to attitudes towards and the treatment of Britain’s squirrels."

OxVeg

“As we approach the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the grey squirrel to Britain, Peter Coates looks at how the greys have usurped the native red squirrel and how the country has reacted to this - not well is the answer. It's an entertaining read, pitting the villainous greys against the sanctified reds and drawing on multiple sources as diverse as parliamentary records to headlines from the Daily Star.”

This England

"This is eco-cultural history at its best, thoughtful, witty and engaging. Peter Coates deftly scurries and leaps through the branches of British squirrel-scapes while challenging us to reflect on the meaning of home, and of human nature."

Rob Lambert, University of Nottingham

"Frisky, alert and as industrious as his subjects, Peter Coates brilliantly narrates the history of our entangled relationship with the squirrel, red and grey. We’ve kept them as pets and given them personalities, but also eaten them and put bounties on their heads; we’ve made the grey a regrettable symbol of irresistible Americanisation and the red an embattled but beautifully fragile symbol of Britain in decline. Squirrels continue indifferent, clinging on here, thriving there."

Matthew Kelly, author of 'The Women Who Saved the English Countryside'

"Peter, an entertaining armchair sciurologist (one who studies squirrels), delves through centuries of British history, with eyes for these ‘bumptious, nimble charismatics’ locating the fault lines in the conflict between red and grey . . . [an] engaging look at the cultural and political impact of squirrel conflict."

Cumbria Life

"An in-depth examination of the history of Britain’s squirrels over the past 200 years. The threatened red is well-loved, while the ubiquitous grey, introduced from North America in the late nineteenth century, is generally considered to be a pest. Documenting the grey’s colonization of Britain, Peter presents a range of stories about these fluffy-tailed rodents and in doing so explores timely issues of belonging, nationalism, citizenship and the defense of borders. Ultimately, though people are swift to draw distinctions between British squirrels and squirrels in Britain, Peter argues that Britain’s two squirrel species have much more in common than at first appears."

The Countryman