American Monster How the Nation's First Prehistoric Creature Became a Symbol of National Identity

Name: American Monster How the Nation's First Prehistoric Creature Became a Symbol of National Identity
Price: 63.14 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780814781203

ISBN-10: 0814781209

ISBN-13: 9780814781203

Edition: 2000

Authors: Paul Semonin

List price: $89.00

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Description:

The definitive study of the first unofficial totem animal of United States culture. Semonin's authoritative treatment of the 'American incognitum' or mastadon . . . is engagingly written and richly detailed. This book shows once again why history is stranger than fiction. --W. J. T. Mitchell, University of Chicago In 1801, the first complete mastodon skeleton was excavated in the Hudson River Valley, marking the climax of a century-long debate in America and Europe over the identity of a mysterious creature known as the American Incognitum. Long before the dinosaurs were discovered and the notion of geological time acquired currency, many citizens of the new republic believed this…

Book details

List price: $89.00
Copyright year: 2000
Publisher: New York University Press
Publication date: 9/1/2000
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 502
Size: 6.30" wide x 9.29" long x 1.46" tall
Weight: 1.232
Language: English

Paul Semonin is a cultural historian and graphic artist. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Oregon. He lives in Eugene, Oregon and occasionally teaches history at Linfield College and Oregon State University.



List of Illustrations


Preface


Introduction: Patriotism and Prehistoric Nature



The Giant of Claverack in Puritan America



The Antediluvian World as a "New Found Land"



The Mystery of the Siberian Mammoth



Big Bone Lick: "The Place Where the Elephant Bones Are Found"



The American Incognitum in Paris



The Anatomy of a Carnivore



The "Monstrous Grinders" in the American Revolution



The Doctrine of Monsters Reborn



American Degeneracy and White Supremacy



The Savagery of Prehistoric Nature



"Monarch of the Wilderness"



The Elephant with Claws



Exhumation of the Monster



The Mastodon of Nations



The Mastodon in the Age of Dinosaurs


Afterword: The Myth of Wild Nature


Notes


Bibliography


Index


About the Author