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The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird
by Andrew D. Blechman
Book Reviewed by:In the tradition of Robert Sullivan’s best-selling Rats comes a whimsical and intimate look into the fascinating world of pigeons and the people they collect.
Pigeons have been worshipped as fertility goddesses and used as symbols of peace. Domesticated since the dawn of man, they’ve been used as crucial communicators in war by every major historical superpower from ancient Egypt to the United States and are credited with saving thousands of lives. Charles Darwin relied heavily upon pigeons to help formulate and support his theory of evolution. Yet, without just cause, they are reviled today as “rats of the sky.” How did we come to misunderstand one of mankind’s most helpful and steadfast companions?
Author Andrew D. Blechman traveled across the United States and Europe to meet with pigeon fanciers and pigeon haters in a quest to chronicle the pigeon’s transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw. Pigeons captures a Brooklyn man’s quest to win the Main Event (the pigeon world’s equivalent of the Kentucky Derby), as well as a pigeon breeders convention dedicated to breeding the perfect bird. Blechman participates in a pigeon shoot where entrants pay $150 to shoot live pigeons; he tracks down Mike Tyson, the nation’s most famous pigeon lover, and spends time with Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Pigeon Handler in England; and he sheds light on a radical “pro-pigeon underground” in New York City. In Pigeons, Blechman tells for the first time the remarkable story behind this seemingly unremarkable bird.
Introduction: Pigeonholed
Some days you’re the pigeon. Some days you’re
the statue. - Anonymous
For much of my life, I didn’t have a strong opinion
about pigeons. At best, I found their incessant bobbing
and waddling mildly charming to watch as I walked
through the streets of New York City. It was my college
girlfriend who first alerted me to their nefarious lack of
hygiene. They may look harmless, she informed me, but
they’re actually insidious carriers of hidden filth - “rats
with wings” - that eat garbage off the streets and crap in
their own nests.
Lamenting the city’s lack of wildlife, I hung a bird
feeder from the fire escape outside my barred windows in
an effort to attract songbirds to my apartment. The feeder
didn’t attract robins or cardinals, but it was popular with
pigeons. They flocked to my fire escape, landing in friendly,
cooing clusters. They were animated, fun to watch, and
they kept me company as I ...
Blechman is at his strongest when relating stories of pigeon prowess in wartime; another high point is the chapter that elaborates on the methods used by cities to control pigeon populations, humanely or otherwise. However, from time to time the level of detail he brings into his first person reporting (which forms the majority of the book) can be a little wearisome. Putting that aside, this is an entertaining read and a must for pigeon aficionados...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and The Madman
Few of us who live in cities, besieged by flights of what we like to call winged rats, can rightly be described as philoperisterons. But King George the Fifth of England was. So was Charles Darwin. Julius Reuter was too, though for purely commercial reasons. And so also, and for which we should all be thankful, is Andrew Blechman, writer. Mr. Blechman positively loves pigeons-but as graceful and ancient grey doves, not as either targets or as food. In this breezy, quirky, endlessly entertaining book, he tells us just why-and explains why philoperisteronicism is, generally speaking, a Good Thing.This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
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