Well-documented, with sidebars on Alcott, Darwin, public health, child labor, and more, Furstinger’s lively narrative fills...
Furstinger examines the life of 19th-century animal rights champion Henry Bergh.
Born an heir to a New York shipbuilder’s fortune in 1813, Bergh left college, traveled, and dabbled unsuccessfully as a writer. In 1863, he served in a diplomatic post in Russia. After stopping a carriage horse’s merciless beating, Bergh seemingly experienced “an epiphany when he discovered that his words really could have power to halt cruelty.” Resigning his post in 1865, Bergh met the president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in London and returned to New York, his life’s passion finally ignited. Furstinger follows Bergh’s 22-year career as he founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866 and enforced New York state’s new anti-cruelty law, arresting and prosecuting many. The author unflinchingly describes the misery of 19th-century urban domestic animals: horses literally worked to death pulling streetcars, dogs forced to fight to death for sport, cows fed an alcoholic distillery mash that poisoned them, their milk, and the infants who drank it. Bergh was celebrated and derided, and his tireless work for animals got a shake-up in 1874, when he founded the world’s first child protection agency. Desjardins’ digital illustrations, grim yet oddly fanciful, seem misplaced here.
Well-documented, with sidebars on Alcott, Darwin, public health, child labor, and more, Furstinger’s lively narrative fills a void. (maps, period photographs, author’s note, timeline, quotation notes, bibliography, website) (Biography. 9-12)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-65031-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
An enchanting book about the latest research on dolphins, and how people benefit from the new information. Cerullo (The Octopus, 1997, etc.) spent a week at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida, and learned that dolphins “deserved their reputation for friendliness, playfulness, complex social behavior, and group loyalty.” The US Navy studies dolphins to learn about hydrodynamics, echolocation, and deep-diving ability “in order to apply these principles to the design of Navy ships and submarines.” Readers will be fascinated by the descriptions of how dolphins “see” through sonar, and by one of the most interesting roles for dolphins, in therapy programs with children who are coping with cancer, disabilities, or depression. With beautiful full-color photographs, the presentation is appealing and incisive. (glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-65263-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“In 1875 there were perhaps fifty million of them. Just twenty-five years later nearly every one of them was gone.” The author of many nonfiction books for young people (Bridges; Truck; Giants of the Highways, etc.) tells the story of the American bison, from prehistory, when Bison latifrons walked North America along with the dinosaurs, to the recent past when the Sioux and other plains Indians hunted the familiar bison. Robbins uses historic photographs, etchings, and paintings to show their sad history. To the Native Americans of the plains, the buffalo was central to their way of life. Arriving Europeans, however, hunted for sport, slaughtering thousands for their hides, or to clear the land for the railroad, or farmers. One telling photo shows a man atop a mountain of buffalo skulls. At the very last moment, enough individuals “came to their senses,” and worked to protect the remaining few. Thanks to their efforts, this animal is no longer endangered, but the author sounds a somber note as he concludes: “the millions are gone, and they will never come back.” A familiar story, well-told, and enhanced by the many well-chosen period photographs. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83025-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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