☰

Biographies & Memoirs

American Hippopotamus

Not Available / Digital Item

American Hippopotamus

In 1910, the United Statesâ€”its population exploding, its frontier all but exhaustedâ€”was in the throes of a serious meat shortage. But a small and industrious group of thinkers stepped forward with an answer, a bold idea being endorsed by the likes of Theodore Roosevelt and The New York Times. Their plan: to import hippopotamuses to the swamps of Louisiana and convince Americans to eat them.

The only thing stranger than the hippo idea itself was the partnership promoting it. At its center were two hard-bitten spies: Frederick Russell Burnham, a superhumanly competent frontiersman, freelance adventurer, and fervent optimist about Americaâ€™s futureâ€”Burnham would be the inspiration for the Boy Scoutsâ€”and Fritz Duquesne, a.k.a. the Black Panther, a virtuoso con man and cynical saboteur who believed only in his own glorification and revenge. Burnham and Duquesne had very recently been sworn enemies under orders to assassinate each other. Theyâ€™d soon be enemies again. But for one brief and shining moment they joined behind a common cause: transforming America into a nation of hippopotamus ranchers.

In American Hippopotamus, Jon Mooallem brings to life a historical saga too preposterous to be fictionâ€”a bracing and eccentric epic of espionage and hippos, but also of a conflicted nation on the threshold of a bewildering new century, deciding what kind of country it would be, and what beasts it would eat.

Country	USA
Author	Jon Mooallem
Binding	Kindle Edition
Format	Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
Label	The Atavist
Manufacturer	The Atavist
NumberOfPages	71
PublicationDate	2013-12-12
Publisher	The Atavist
ReleaseDate	2013-12-12
Studio	The Atavist

You might also like...