Pigeons The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird

by Blechman, Andrew D.

• ISBN13: 9780802118349
• ISBN10: 0802118348
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-06
• Publisher: Grove Press

Summary

"In Pigeons, Andrew D. Blechman travels across the United States and Europe in a quest to chronicle the bird's transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw. From Brooklyn's Main Event, the pigeon world's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby, to the eighty-third Grand National, with its thousands of bizarre and beautiful show pigeons, and from a pigeon shoot where people pay to gun down live birds, to the nation's oldest and biggest squab farm, Blechman takes the reader deep into the weird and wonderful world of pigeon fanaticism. He meets with pigeon fanciers and pigeon haters alike, including the Queen of England's Royal Loft Manager and members of the radical "pro-pigeon underground"; chases Mike Tyson, America's most famous pigeon lover; and for the first time tells the remarkable story behind this seemingly unremarkable bird. You'll never look at a pigeon the same way again."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Pigeonholed	1	(18)
Old Cocks	19	(11)
Through Rain, Sleet, and . . . a Hail of Bullets	30	(10)
Drs. Frankenstein	40	(10)
Evolution, Peapods, and Pigeons	50	(11)
Dr. Pigeon, I Presume?	61	(12)
Pull!	73	(30)
Inside the Cuckoo Clock	103	(26)
Flying Rats	129	(35)
Mike and Me	164	(17)
Great Expectations	181	(13)
The Old Bird's Birds	194	(17)
The Breast Farm	211	(12)
The Main Event	223	(8)
They Had No Choice	231	(6)
Acknowledgments	237