Mr. Hornaday's War: How a Peculiar Victorian Zookeeper Waged a Lonely Crusade for Wildlife That Changed the World

基本信息出版社:Beacon Press (2012年5月15日)精装:272页正文语种:英语ISBN:0807006351条形码:9780807006351商品重量:567 gASIN:0807006351您想告诉我们您发现了更低的价格?

商品描述内容简介He was complex, quirky, pugnacious, and difficult. He seemed to create enemies wherever he went, even among his friends. A fireplug of a man who stood only five feet eight inches in his stocking feet, he had an outsized ambition to make his mark on the world. And he did. William Temple Hornaday (1854-1937) was probably the most famous conservationist of the nineteenth century, second only to his great friend and ally Theodore Roosevelt. Hornaday's great passion was protecting wild things and wild places, and he spent most of his adult life in a state of war on their behalf, as a taxidermist and museum collector; as the founder and first director of the National Zoo in Washington, DC; as director of the Bronx Zoo for thirty years; and as the author of nearly two dozen books on conservation and wildlife. But inMr. Hornaday's War,the long-overdue biography of Hornaday by journalist Stefan Bechtel, the grinding contradictions of Hornaday's life also become clear. Though he is credited with saving the American bison from extinction, he began his career as a rifleman and trophy hunter who led "the last buffalo hunt" into the Montana Territory. And what happened in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo, when Hornaday displayed an African man in a cage, shows a side of him that is as baffling as it is repellent. This gripping new book takes an honest look at a fascinating and enigmatic man.媒体推荐"William Temple Hornaday is a name we've forgotten, and that's almost a crime. The first truly successful eco-activist, he established the National Zoo and almost single-handedly saved the buffalo. Nineteenth-century America was wiping out species after species, virtually for the fun of it, and Hornaday gave voice to their agony and dragged several back from the brink. Stefan Bechtel, in vivid and carefully crafted prose, has resurrected Hornaday—and given us a gripping chronicle of a fascinating life, along with a hero for those who care for the fate of the earth."—Robert L. O'Connell, author ofThe Ghosts Of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic

“A fascinating book, which gives us an insight into the life of one of America's forgotten heroes. We have to thank WT Hornaday for a richer nation with wildlife like the American Bison, and the world today is better as a result of his work a century ago. Stefan Bechtel has done a masterful job telling us his story, from his field explorations to the establishment of the Bronx Zoo and his battles in Congress. This book must be read by anyone interested in history and the environment.”—Cristián Samper, the Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and soon to be President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society

"Stefan Bechtel tells William Hornaday's story with zest and a great eye for detail. Mr. Hornaday's War offers adventure, political maneuvering, a stellar cast of characters, and a nuanced portrait of the crusader who called himself 'the most defiant devil that ever came to town.'" — Henry Wiencek, author ofAn Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America

“Stefan Bechtel’sMr. Hornaday’s Waris essential for anyone interested in U.S. conservation history and the wildlife protection movement. Not only did William T. Hornaday save the bison from extinction, but he is also the spiritual progenitor of today’s Endangered Species Act. Every zoo in America should erect a statue of the larger-than-life Hornaday. Bechtel has [my] unstinting admiration for writing such a smart, thoroughly researched, landmark biography. A gaping deficit in our understanding of progressive era ecological warriors has been filled.” — Douglas Brinkley is Professor of History at Rice University and author ofThe Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt’s Crusade for America