Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect That Shaped the American Frontier - Rilegato

Lockwood, Jeffrey A.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0738208949 ISBN 13: 9780738208947

Casa editrice: Perseus Books, 2004

Riassunto

The story of America's most extraordinary insect, brilliantly recounted by the scientist who solved the mystery of its extinction. Throughout the nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the continent, turning noon into dusk, demolishing farm communities, and bringing trains to a halt as the crushed bodies of insects greased the rails. In 1876, the U.S. Congress declared the locust "the single greatest impediment to the settlement of the country." From the Dakotas to Texas, from California to Iowa, the swarms pushed thousands of settlers to the brink of starvation, prompting the federal government to enlist some of the greatest scientific minds of the day and thereby jumpstarting the fledgling science of entomology. Over the next few decades, the Rocky Mountain locust suddenly--and mysteriously--vanished.A century later, Jeffrey Lockwood set out to discover why. Unconvinced by the reigning theories, he searched for new evidence in musty books, crumbling maps, and crevassed glaciers, eventually piecing together the elusive answer.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull'autore

Jeffrey A. Lockwood is Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wyoming. The author of Grasshopper Dreaming , he has been awarded a Pushcart Prize as well as the 2003 John Burroughs Award.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Perseus Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2004
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0738208949
• ISBN 13: 9780738208947
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 320
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile