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The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird
Grove Press
October 2006
On Sale: October 6, 2006
256 pages
ISBN: 0802118348
EAN: 9780802118349
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
In the tradition of Robert Sullivanβs best-selling Rats comes a whimsical and intimate look into the fascinating world of pigeons and the people they collect. Pigeons have been worshipped as fertility goddesses and used as symbols of peace. Domesticated since the dawn of man, theyβve been used as crucial communicators in war by every major historical superpower from ancient Egypt to the United States and are credited with saving thousands of lives. Charles Darwin relied heavily upon pigeons to help formulate and support his theory of evolution. Yet, without just cause, they are reviled today as βrats of the sky.β How did we come to misunderstand one of mankindβs most helpful and steadfast companions? Author Andrew D. Blechman traveled across the United States and Europe to meet with pigeon fanciers and pigeon haters in a quest to chronicle the pigeonβs transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw. Pigeons captures a Brooklyn manβs quest to win the Main Event (the pigeon worldβs equivalent of the Kentucky Derby), as well as a pigeon breeders convention dedicated to breeding the perfect bird. Blechman participates in a pigeon shoot where entrants pay $150 to shoot live pigeons; he tracks down Mike Tyson, the nationβs most famous pigeon lover, and spends time with Queen Elizabethβs Royal Pigeon Handler in England; and he sheds light on a radical βpro-pigeon undergroundβ in New York City. In Pigeons, Blechman tells for the first time the remarkable story behind this seemingly unremarkable bird.
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