The Medici Giraffe And Other Tales of Exotic Animals and Power

by Belozerskaya, Marina

• ISBN13: 9780316525657
• ISBN10: 0316525650
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-21
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• More Book Details
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Summary

"Exotic animals have long entranced and inspired us. For centuries, they've served as diplomats and war machines, shaped the reigns of rulers, advanced knowledge, and captured the human imagination. How did such creatures come to make or break rulers and help shape the definition of what is means to be civilized?" "The Medici Giraffe contemplates this question through a chain of stories beginning in ancient Alexandria and traveling through republican Rome, Renaissance Florence, Aztec Mexico, baroque Prague, Napoleonic France, robber baron America, and right up to the present day, when two pairs of giant pandas - alone, it seemed - were able to warm the frosty relations between superpowers."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Elephants for a kingdom	p. 3
Controlling nature in the Roman arena	p. 49
How a giraffe turned a merchant into a prince	p. 87
Human animals in the New World and the old	p. 131
Rudolf II's empire of knowledge	p. 181
The black swans of Malmaison	p. 233
Beyond private delight	p. 305
Epilogue : little people in furry suits	p. 375
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.