Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose

by Dugatkin, Lee Alan

• ISBN13: 9780226169149
• ISBN10: 0226169146
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

In the years after the Revolutionary War, the fledgling republic of America was viewed by many Europeans as a degenerate backwater, populated by subspecies weak and feeble. Chief among these naysayers was the French Count and world-renowned naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, who wrote that the flora and fauna of America (humans included) were inferior to European specimens. Thomas Jeffersonauthor of the Declaration of Independence, U.S. president, and ardent naturalistspent years countering the French conception of American degeneracy. HisNotes on Virginiasystematically and scientifically dismantled Buffon's case through a series of tables and equally compelling writing on the nature of his home state. But the book did little to counter the arrogance of the French and hardly satisfied Jefferson's quest to demonstrate that his young nation was every bit the equal of a well-established Europe. Enter the giant moose. The American moose, which Jefferson claimed was so enormous a European reindeer could walk under it, became the cornerstone of his defense. Convinced that the sight of such a magnificent beast would cause Buffon to revise his claims, Jefferson had the remains of a seven-foot ungulate shipped first class from New Hampshire to Paris. Unfortunately, Buffon died before he could make any revisions to hisHistoire Naturelle,but the legend of the moose makes for a fascinating tale about Jefferson's passion to prove that American nature deserved prestige. InMr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose,Lee Alan Dugatkin vividly recreates the origin and evolution of the debates about natural history in America and, in so doing, returns the prize moose to its rightful place in American history.

Author Biography

Lee Alan Dugatkin is professor of biology at the University of Louisville and author of The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness and Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees: The Nature of Cooperation in Animals and Humans, among other books.

Table of Contents

Preface: "A Moose More Precious Than You Can Imagine"	p. ix
"Dictatorial Powers of the Botanical Gentlemen of Europe"	p. 1
The Count's Degenerate America	p. 10
"Noxious Vapors and Corrupt Juices"	p. 31
"Not a Sprig of Grass That Shoots Uninteresting"	p. 47
"Geniuses Which Adorn the Present Age"	p. 62
Enter the Moose	p. 81
Thirty-Seven-Pound Frogs and Patagonian Giants	p. 101
Extracting the "Tapeworm of Europe" from Our Brain	p. 117
Acknowledgments	p. 131
Notes	p. 133
Reference List	p. 153
Index	p. 159
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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