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The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America's Bird
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About This Book
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.
Reviews
"At the same time, there are parts of it that read like a textbook."
"Davis conveys the breathtaking splendor of the most famous American bird in The Bald Eagle ..."
"He sketches vivid portraits of the artists, scientists and eagle-loving eccentrics who thought nothing of perching in a tree for weeks to document eagle life."
"Davis' unique look at a bird we all thought we were familiar with is well-researched and chock-full of fascinating historical and nature-oriented vignettes."
"A majestic history ..."
"The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America's Bird is a feel-good story."
"Along with the famous humans, Davis never neglects the birds themselves ..."
"It proceeds by the principles of accretion, with no eagle fact, or eagle-adjacent fact, left behind ..."
"This is a history that turns the tables on Americans; the creature that embodied the scrappiness of the early nation is now a model of resilience we can only hope to emulate."
"Well-timed humor...keeps things moving, and his writing is vivid ..."
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