Horwitz excels at making his cast come alive as distinctly human individuals. Although the government and military are meant to be the bad guys, with the Navy being the chief villain and fisheries being their minions, he provides compelling reasons for their actions, primarily in the interests of self-protection and national security that do have to be balanced against environmental protection. Neither Reynolds nor Balcomb are perfect either, see their numerous failed relationships as evidence, but their passion and dogged persistence for their beliefs outweighs other character flaws in this context. I’m sure none of these individuals appreciated seeing their actions (or inactions) dragged into the public eye, but at least Horwitz makes them all understandable to the reader.

He is also incredibly good at clarifying the often murky and complicated scientific and legal facts that are crucial to this story. From the anatomy of a whale’s head to the process of training dolphins to detect bombs to the complexity of filing a Supreme Court case, he manages to explain things clearly and in a way that doesn’t feel like a dry footnote. This book could’ve easily been textbook boring, but instead it is an approachable and engaging read.

Read my full review at http://time2tome.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/war-of-the-whales-by-joshua-horwitz/