Description
Book SynopsisFounded amid the urban commotion of Washington, DC, before the dawn of the twentieth century, the National Zoological Park opened to ‘preserve, teach, and conduct research about the animal world’.
Entangled Encounters at the National Zoo is a study of this important cultural landmark from 1887 to 1920.
Trade ReviewDeeply researched, marvelously insightful, and delightfully absorbing,
Entangled Encounters at the National Zoo examines the complexities and contradictions inherent in the modern zoo. Vandersommers shows how the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park became a bustling site of wonder, entertainment, education, wildlife conservation, humane discourse, cultural advancement, civic pride, and the production and popularization of scientific and medical knowledge. At the same time, he reveals the darker side of this wildly popular and influential institution, which has embodied racist and nativist thinking, projected nationalism and imperial power, epitomized human dominion over non-humans, and been marred by the “violence of captivity” that permeates its very core. This outstanding book not only nicely captures the paradoxical, tangled layers of meaning associated with placing wildlife on public display, but also shows how zoos have come to occupy the gap between human expectations and the animals themselves." - Mark Barrow, is professor at Virginia Tech and author of
Nature’s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of EcologyTable of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: At the Entrance Gate
- 1. Origins of a National Zoo
- 2. Runaway Animals
- 3. The Crossroads of Science and Popular Culture
- 4. Animal Activism and the Zoo-Networked Nation
- 5. Zoo Conservation and Its Discontents: Chasing Bighorn Sheep
- 6. The Zoonotic Nature of Tuberculosis
- Conclusion: The National Zoo Movement
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
