Locust The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier

by Lockwood, Jeffrey A.

• ISBN13: 9780465041671
• ISBN10: 0465041671
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-11
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

In 1876, the U.S. Congress declared the locust "the single greatest impediment to the settlement of the country between Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains." Throughout the nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the American continent, turning noon into dusk, devastating farm communities, and bringing trains to a halt. The outbreaks subsided in the 1890s, and then, suddenlyand mysteriouslythe Rocky Mountain locust vanished. A century later, entomologist Jeffrey Lockwood vowed to discover why.Locustis the story of how one insect shaped the history of the western United States. A compelling personal narrative drawing on historical accounts and modern science, this beautifully written book brings to life the cultural, economic, and political forces at work in America in the late nineteenth century, even as it solves one of the greatest extinction mysteries of our time.

Author Biography

Jeffrey A. Lockwood is professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wyoming.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. xv
The Third Horseman of the Apocalypse	p. 1
Albert's Swarm	p. 17
The Sixth Plague	p. 31
Humans Strike Back	p. 49
Politicians and Pests	p. 65
Lord of the Locusts	p. 87
The Triumvirate	p. 101
The Locust Disappears	p. 125
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?	p. 139
Beautiful Theories and Ugly Facts	p. 159
Secrets in the Ice	p. 181
The Mother Lode	p. 209
Pioneers on Trial	p. 225
What Have We Learned?	p. 255
Notes	p. 263
List of Illustrations	p. 273
Index	p. 277
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