The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America's Bird
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4.4 • 16 Ratings
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
Best Books of the Month: Wall Street Journal, Kirkus Reviews
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf, a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America.
The bald eagle is regal but fearless, a bird you’re not inclined to argue with. For centuries, Americans have celebrated it as “majestic” and “noble,” yet savaged the living bird behind their national symbol as a malicious predator of livestock and, falsely, a snatcher of babies. Taking us from before the nation’s founding through inconceivable resurgences of this enduring all-American species, Jack E. Davis contrasts the age when native peoples lived beside it peacefully with that when others, whether through hunting bounties or DDT pesticides, twice pushed Haliaeetus leucocephalus to the brink of extinction.
Filled with spectacular stories of Founding Fathers, rapacious hunters, heroic bird rescuers, and the lives of bald eagles themselves—monogamous creatures, considered among the animal world’s finest parents—The Bald Eagle is a much-awaited cultural and natural history that demonstrates how this bird’s wondrous journey may provide inspiration today, as we grapple with environmental peril on a larger scale.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The arresting image of the bald eagle has long been a symbol of the American spirit—but the story behind that image is even more compelling. Pulitzer Prize winner Jack E. Davis’ epic, definitive history of the American icon explores how the indigenous North American bird has been revered throughout history. Davis uses lively writing to draw us into the story of how the bald eagle has persevered through many massive threats, from being mislabeled as a predatory pest to being almost wiped out by pesticides. With plenty of wit and insight, he takes the time to ponder why the animal that’s meant to represent American greatness has been nearly driven to extinction—by Americans. Whether you love reading about animals or learning about American history, The Bald Eagle is a standout read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pulitzer Prize winner Davis (The Gulf), an environmental history professor at the University of Florida, scores with this sweeping history of America's unofficial symbolic bird. Combining natural, political, and cultural histories, Davis offers a wealth of surprising information and demolishes popular misconceptions, dispelling, for example, the idea that the turkey was a candidate for the U.S. national bird. He covers the use of the eagle as a symbol of fidelity, self-reliance, and courage; describes once-held beliefs that it was a scavenging pest; and explains threats to its survival, both from hunters and pollutants, that almost made it extinct in the 20th century. As Davis recounts, the story of the bald eagle is a rare example of successful conservation: twice—through the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and the ban on DDT in 1972—the creature was pulled back from the brink and has since gone on to achieve a sustainable population. Well-timed humor—as when Davis notes that the fiercely loud cry of the bald eagle in the opening of The Colbert Report was actually the squawk of a red-tailed hawk—keeps things moving, and his writing is vivid: "On descent, primary flight feathers splay and twist; tail feathers pitch upward and downward." This account soars. Photos.
