369 pages : 21 cm
A prizewinning poet and nature writer weaves together natural history, biology, sociology, and personal narrative to tell the story of the lives, habitats, and deaths of six extinct bird species
Includes bibliographical references (pages 351-356) and index
THE CAROLINA PARAKEET. The forgotten parakeet -- Exotic -- Hope in a cage
THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. In search of the lord god bird -- Returnings
THE HEATH HEN. The fire birds -- Capawack -- A phoenix on the vineyard
THE PASSENGER PIGEON. The dark beneath their wings -- The boy and the pigeon -- Martha's story
THE LABRADOR DUCK AND THE GREAT AUK. The strangest sea -- In a northern gulf : journey to Bird Rock

Cokinos, Christopher

New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin

Penguin Publishing Group

United States, United States of America

Illustrated, 2009

March 20, 2000

Obscured text on back cover due to sticker attached.

<p>an Award-winning Nature Writer Weaves Natural History And Personal Experience Into The Dramatic Story Of The Last Days Of Six North American Bird Species.<br><br>journey With Christopher Cokinos To A Time When Flocks Of Passenger Pigeons Blocked The Sun And Carolina Parakeets Colored The Sky--according To One Pioneer--like An Atmosphere Of Gems.<br><br>driven By A Desire To Understand The Lives Of These Now-extinct Birds And How And Why They Vanished, Cokinos Excavates Crumbling Newspapers And Forgotten Reports. From Bird Rock In The Gulf Of St. Lawrence To Louisiana's Tangled Bayous, He Searches For Those Who Loved The Passenger Pigeon, The Carolina Parakeet, And The Labrador Duck; For The People Who Stalked The Ivory-billed Woodpecker, The Heath Hen, And The Great Auk; And For Those Who Tried To Save Them.<br><br>a Compelling Blend Of Science, History, Politics, And Memoir, <i>hope Is The Thing With Feathers</i> Draws On Previously Unpublished Photographs And Original Documents To Make These Long-vanished Birds Come Alive. Cokinos Delves Into The Mysterious Sighting Of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers In April 1999; The Incredible Plan To Create New Heath Hens On Martha's Vineyard; And The Astonishing Possibility That These Extinct Birds Could Be Resurrected Through The Science Of Cloning. Published To Mark The 100-year Anniversary Of The Shooting Of The Last Wild Passenger Pigeon, <i>hope Is The Thing With Feathers</i> Is A Wonderfully Textured And Ultimately Uplifting Narrative.</p> <h3>publishers Weekly</h3> <p>even Readers With No Special Interest In Birds Will Be Caught Up In This Marvelous Book, A Deeply Moving Cautionary Tale About How We Have Systematically Diminished The Planet. In Recounting The Histories Of Six Extinct North American Birds, Along With Stories Of The People Who Killed Them Off And Those Who Tried To Save Them, Cokinos, A Professor Of English At Kansas State University, Transforms Each Extinction Into A Deeply Disturbing Tragedy--both For The Species Itself, And For Human Civilization. Relentless, Wanton Hunting, More Than Ecosystem Pressures, Obliterated Cokinos's Feathered Protagonists, Including The Carolina Parakeet, Which Once Colored The Skies With Its Green, Yellow And Reddish-orange Plumage; The Hardy Passenger Pigeon, Flying For Hours At A Time In Endless Flocks Before It Vanished Around 1900; The Exquisite Labrador Duck; And The Heath Hen, Daily Fare For The Pilgrims, A Holdout On Martha's Vineyard Until 1932. Cokinos Seamlessly Weaves Together Priceless Anecdotes, Historical Detective Work, Birders' Reports, Natural Histories Of The Vanished Species And His Travel Notes Ranging From The Louisiana Bayous To The Steep-cliffed Bird Rock Islets In The St. Lawrence Gulf, Once The Nesting Ground Of The Extinct Great Auk. We Also Meet Memorable Humans Like Wildlife Artist Don Eckelberry, Who In 1944 Made The Last Authenticated Sighting Of The Ivory-billed Woodpecker As Its Forest Was Being Decimated. Cokinos Weighs The Fantastically Remote Possibility Of Using Dna Cloned From Extinct Birds To Resurrect These Vanished Species, But The Real Hope Engendered By This Extraordinary Saga--beautifully Illustrated With Photographs, Engravings, Paintings And Memorabilia--lies In Its Insistent Plea To Restore Ecological Sanity. Agent, Natasha Kern. (mar.) Fyi: Hope Is The Thing With Feathers (the Title Comes From A Line By Emily Dickinson) Will Be Published On March 24, The 100th Anniversary Of The Shooting Of The Last Documented Wild Passenger Pigeon. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|</p>

2023-06-28