CATS AND US

A tribute to a domestic association measured in millennia.

“It isn’t easy to figure out what is really going on in [cats’] heads,” writes Pantaleo with commendable accuracy, but in this Italian import, a companion to last year’s Dogs and Us, she gives it a go. She retraces felines’ history with humans—from pest control for early farmers to revered icons in ancient Egypt—their place in legends and stories from around the world, and their modern role as comfort animals who can “make us feel special.” Still, there’s no question who’s boss in the relationship: “Over the centuries, [they’ve] taught us their language.” The journey is conveyed more in pictures than words; readers wondering about the origins of the sailors watching nautical cats chasing rats away from an oared galley or about the waving cats in a classical Japanese setting are left to guess or look elsewhere. Brief notes in a closing gallery that recaps the 36 breeds appearing here do provide some answers, though, along with comments about each breed’s origins, temperament, and special qualities. In the art, the human cast is thoroughly multiracial and multicultural.

Will leave younger cat lovers appreciating their kitties even more for sticking around so long.