Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West

by Élisabeth Hardouin-Fugier, Éric Baratay

"A fascinating and wide-ranging -history of zoos from the menageries attached to aristocratic palaces and villas in the 1500s to those in modern cities . . . provides the intriguing and often harrowing background to one of the most agonizing dilemmas of our with ever more species threatened with extinction in their natural habitat, should we seek to preserve them in special sanctuaries and if so where and how?"- The Times "Not just a compendium of pretty pictures-though you'll be stunned by the 400 images-this book traces the history of zoos throughout the world. Among similar books, it is unique in exploring the social ramifications of our relations with the peaceable kingdom."- Library Journal , "Best Books of 2002"

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Animals

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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.