Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American FrontierThroughout the nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the continent, turning noon into dusk, demolishing farm communities, and bringing trains to a halt as the crushed bodies of insects greased the rails. In 1876, the U.S. Congress declared the locust "the single greatest impediment to the settlement of the country." From the Dakotas to Texas, from California to Iowa, the swarms pushed thousands of settlers to the brink of starvation, prompting the federal government to enlist some of the greatest scientific minds of the day and thereby jumpstarting the fledgling science of entomology. Over the next few decades, the Rocky Mountain locust suddenly -- and mysteriously -- vanished. A century later, Jeffrey Lockwood set out to discover why. Unconvinced by the reigning theories, he searched for new evidence in musty books, crumbling maps, and crevassed glaciers, eventually piecing together the elusive answer: A group of early settlers unwittingly destroyed the locust's sanctuaries just as the insect was experiencing a natural population crash. Drawing on historical accounts and modern science, Locust 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 ecological mysteries of our time. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 55
Page i
... scientific detection, this is a book for you.” —Buffalo News “There's no dearth of eye-opening facts in this mostly fascinating . . . story of scientific sleuthing. . . . This is a compelling work of popular science and ecological ...
... scientific detection, this is a book for you.” —Buffalo News “There's no dearth of eye-opening facts in this mostly fascinating . . . story of scientific sleuthing. . . . This is a compelling work of popular science and ecological ...
Page ii
... scientific acumen but for being a first-rate writer of natural history . . . he has brought the Rocky Mountain locust to life, thankfully only on the pages of this lucid and eminently entertaining book.” —Natural History “Locusts! The ...
... scientific acumen but for being a first-rate writer of natural history . . . he has brought the Rocky Mountain locust to life, thankfully only on the pages of this lucid and eminently entertaining book.” —Natural History “Locusts! The ...
Page vii
... modern entomological triumvirate exemplifying traditional scientific virtues —and comprising the finest scholars, gentlemen, and orthopterists that it has been my true pleasure and good fortune to have known 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 13 14 1.
... modern entomological triumvirate exemplifying traditional scientific virtues —and comprising the finest scholars, gentlemen, and orthopterists that it has been my true pleasure and good fortune to have known 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 13 14 1.
Page xxi
... scientific team, including me, had ridden two-thirds of the way, until our horses started slipping and stumbling on the steep, wet path, after which we scrambled over the rocky trail on foot. It was our second day on the glacier, and ...
... scientific team, including me, had ridden two-thirds of the way, until our horses started slipping and stumbling on the steep, wet path, after which we scrambled over the rocky trail on foot. It was our second day on the glacier, and ...
Page xxv
... scientific problem. Although superficially satisfying, the explanations for the extinction were ecologically implausible. When I again reopened the case, my interests were objective and my approach was purely professional. But such ...
... scientific problem. Although superficially satisfying, the explanations for the extinction were ecologically implausible. When I again reopened the case, my interests were objective and my approach was purely professional. But such ...
Other editions - View all
Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that ... Jeffrey A. Lockwood No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
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