Description
Book SynopsisIn the decades following the Civil War - as industrialization, urbanization, and economic expansion reshaped the landscape - many Americans began seeking adventure and aesthetic gratification through avian pursuits. This book reconstructs this story through the experiences of birdwatchers, collectors, conservationists, and taxidermists.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 1998 Forum for the History of Science in America Book Prize One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1999 "Lively drama, complete with colorful characters, harrowing escapes, class struggles and personal triumphs... I was gripped from cover to cover by this book and gained enormous insights into my roots."--John W. Fitzpatrick, Nature "In these pages, one senses a palpable kinship between the present birding world and the generations ... who preceded us... Ironically the subject material seems altogether contemporary, as reflective of our own passion for birds as of that of our predecessors."--Ted Floyd, Birding "Barrow's entertainingly informative work mines rich veins of archive material, both scientific and lay, in order to chart the special relationship which has developed over the years between the professional ornithologist and the collector, the taxidermist, the conservationist and the amateur birdwatcher."--The Times Literary Supplement "Barrow's work provides an enormously useful guide to an impressive range of subjects in the history of science, far broader than the subject of the book itself... Highly readable."--Jane R. Camerini, Isis "History and bird lovers alike will find A Passion for Birds by Mark V. Barrow, Jr. interesting ... with its colorful story and cast of characters."--Birder's World "Closely argued, engagingly written, punctuated with humor and insight, A Passion for Birds combines scholarship with accessibility."--Michael Edmonds, Environmental History
Table of ContentsILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE The Culture of Collecting Roosevelt's Museum The Culture of Collecting Quantitative Dimensions Collecting Conflicts CHAPTER TWO Desiderata: Bird Collecting and Community Recruiting Ridgway Early American Collections Collecting Networks Serial Collecting Sporting Naturalists Collecting and Identification Guides Perilous Pursuits Women Ornithologists CHAPTER THREE Forging Boundaries, Creating Occupational Space The Gathering The Nuttall Club Creating the AOU "Amateurs" and the AOU Forging a Profession I Forging a Profession II The Shufeldt Affair Membership Redux CHAPTER FOUR Nomenclatural Reform and the Quest for Standards and Stability Disciplining Ornithology The Geography of Species The "American" Subspecies Concept The AOU and Nomenclatural Reform Plain English Trinomial Woes CHAPTER FIVE Embracing and Abandoning Bird Protection Chapman's Parakeets Discovering Extinction Embracing Bird Protection Grinnell's Audubon Society Critics of Conservation Permit Perturbations Abandoning Bird Protection CHAPTER SIX Protecting Birds, Protecting Ornithologists Reviving the Movement Dutcher's Push for Protection Redefining Ornithology Conserve the Collector A Crisis in Conservation Renewing the Conservation Commitment CHAPTER SEVEN Birdwatchers, Scientists, and the Politics of Vision Cooperation and Conflict A Field Guide to Birdwatching Constructing Observational Networks Birdwatching, Bird Banding, and the Biological Survey Cooperative Life-History Studies The Problem of Sight Records Palmer's Qualms CHAPTER EIGHT Reforming American Ornithology The State of the Union Graduate Training in Ornithology Enter Ernst Mayr Making Space for Nice Reforming the AOU CONCLUSION NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
