Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West

by Éric Baratay, Élisabeth Hardouin-Fugier

Wild animals have fascinated human observers since time immemorial. The story of our interest in collecting, classifying and dominating Nature looms large; thus it is surprising that the history of menageries, zoological gardens and zoos as we know them today has been so poorly documented. This gap is addressed by Zoo .

In the Renaissance, wealthy aristocrats showcased exotic beasts in private menageries. Safely caged, animals inspired the interest of naturalists and fed the curiosity of the masses. By the 19th century, increased urbanization and colonization aided the expansion of zoos in which animals were tamed to serve as domesticated livestock. Nowadays, with many natural habitats under threat of extinction, the social function of zoos is less clear. Such institutions both present the illusion of wild animals in a natural state to a nostalgic public and find themselves justifying their existence as saviors of endangered species.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Animals

356 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Éric Baratay is a professor at the University of Lyon and a specialist in the history of human-animal relations.

Reviews

[Erwin Vermeulen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great history of animal captivity (and what's wrong with it).

[إسلام صلاح الدين · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب مميز في موضوع نادر شامل وفيه مجهود عظيم، يعيبه سوء الترتيب والإعادة والتكرار رغم أنه يبدو في غاية التنظيم من برا.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I put this on the biology shelf but it wasn't really a biological book. Written by two history professors (I'm unsure what there credibility is in writing a book about zoos), perhaps they should have stuck with the history of zoological gardens but like in most zoo books opinions creep in. Clearly these two are not big fans of zoos as they spend most of the book pointing out the bad things about zoos. Clearly there are a lot of problems with zoos but everything is not bad. It was also not a very exciting book. There was a lot of listing of events that occurred throughout history. So a little too boring and a little too opinionated to recommend.

[Marjorie Hakala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good on text, extraordinary on pictures. Really, this book is beautiful. I'd rather like to own a copy, but since it's $40 I'll probably just keep checking it out of various libraries.