“[A] tour de force examination of the history of ivory . . . and the demise of the elephant and human decency in the process of this unholy quest.” —The Huffington Post Praised for the nuance and sensitivity with which it approaches one of the most fraught conservation issues we face today, John Frederick Walker’s Ivory’s Ghosts tells the astonishing story of the power of ivory through the ages, and its impact on elephants. Long before gold and gemstones held allure, ivory came to be prized in every culture of the world—from ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century America to modern Japan—for its beauty, rarity, and ability to be finely carved. But the beauty came at an unfathomable cost. Walker lays bare the ivory trade’s cruel connection with the slave trade and the increasing slaughter of elephants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By the 1980s, elephant poaching reached levels that threatened the last great herds of the African continent, and led to a worldwide ban on the ancient international trade in tusks. But the ban has failed to stop poaching—or the emotional debate over what to do with the legitimate and growing stockpiles of ivory recovered from elephants that die of natural causes. “Ivory’s Ghost is essential reading for anyone concerned with conservation and with the tenuous future of one of the most magnificent creatures our earth has ever seen.” —George B. Schaller, author of A Naturalist and Other Beast
“Walker . . . weaves a surprisingly fascinating story around one animal, involving colonialism, revolution, biology, and politics . . . Hard to put down.” —Booklist In A Certain Curve of Horn, veteran journalist John Frederick Walker tells the story of one of the most revered and endangered of the regal beasts of Africa: the giant sable antelope of Angola, a majestic, coal-black quadruped with breathtaking curved horns over five feet long. It is an enthralling and tragic tale of exploration and adventure, politics and war, the brutal realities of life in Africa today and the bitter choices of conflicting conservation strategies. A Certain Curve of Horn traces the sable’s emergence as a highly sought-after natural history prize before the First World War, and follows its struggle to survive in a war zone fought over by the troops of half a dozen nations, and its transformation into a political symbol and conservation icon. As he follows the trail of this mysterious animal, Walker interweaves the stories of the adventurers, scientists, and warriors who have come under the thrall of the beast, and how their actions would shape the fate of the giant sable antelope and the history of the war-torn nation that is its only home. “A Certain Curve of Horn deserves to be ranked with Peter Matthiessen’s classic, The Snow Leopard.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
British explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills set out in 1860 to explore the Australian outback -- they never returned, but their journals tell their story. One year later, a search party led by Frederick Walker left to find them. Though unsuccessful, they discovered what had happened to the intrepid explorers.
A fascinating story of exploration and environmental devastation chronicleshe precarious fate of the endangered sable antelope in Angola over theourse of the twentieth century. Reprint.
Letters on Art: Art Criticism and Art Education. "Modern Painters;" a Reply. 1843 Art Criticism. 1843 The Arts as a Branch of Education. 1857 Art-Teaching by Correspondence. 1860 Public Institutions and the National Gallery. Danger to the National Gallery. 1847 The National Gallery. 1852 The British Museum. 1866 On the Purchase of Pictures. 1880 Pre-raphaelitism. The Pre-Raphaelite Brethren. 1851 (May 13) The Pre-Raphaelite Brethren. 1851 (May 30) "The Light of the World," Holman Hunt. 1854{vi} "The Awakening Conscience," Holman Hunt. 1854 Pre-Raphaelitism in Liverpool. 1858 Generalization and the Scotch Pre-Raphaelites. 1858 Turner. The Turner Bequest. 1856 [Turner's Sketch Book. 1858 The Turner Bequest and the National Gallery. 1857 The Turner Sketches and Drawings. 1858 [The Liber Studiorum. 1858 The Turner Gallery at Kensington. 1859 Turner's Drawings. 1876 (July 5) Turner's Drawings. 1876 (July 19) Copies of Turner's Drawings. 1876 [Copies of Turner's Drawings—Extract. 1857 [Copy of Turner's Fluelen "Turners," False and True. 1871. The Character of Turner. 1857. [Thornbury's Life of Turner. 1861. Pictures and Artists. John Leech's Outlines. 1872. Ernest George's Etchings. 1873. The Frederick Walker Exhibition. 1876. Architecture and Restoration. Gothic Architecture and the Oxford Museum. 1858. Gothic Architecture and the Oxford Museum. 1859. The Castle Rock (Edinburgh). 1857 (Sept. 14) Edinburgh Castle. 1857 (Sept. 27) Castles and Kennels. 1871 (Dec. 22) Verona v. Warwick. 1871 (Dec. 24){vii} Notre Dame de Paris. 1871 Mr. Ruskin's Influence—A Defence. 1872 (March 15) Mr. Ruskin's Influence—A Rejoinder. 1872 (March 21) Modern Restorations. 1877 Ribbesford Church. 1877 Circular relating to St. Mark's, Venice. 1879. [Letters relating to St. Mark's, Venice. 1879. Letters on Science: Geological. The Conformation of the Alps, 1864 Concerning Glaciers. 1864. English versus Alpine Geology. 1864 Concerning Hydrostatics. 1864 James David Forbes: His Real Greatness. 1874.
From 1830 to 1914, journeys to the Mediterranean became part of the British way of life--and the British way of death. The Mediterranean Passion shows how a revolution in transportation enabled the British middle classes to follow the aristocracy to the South in pursuit of culture, health, pleasure, and spiritual inspiration. It carefully describes how the British traveled, where they went, how their attitudes shaped their experiences, and how their experiences shaped their attitudes. Exploring the medical, religious, sexual, and aesthetic dimensions of their journeys, the book also exposes the tension between the world that they discovered and the world that they created.
“[A] tour de force examination of the history of ivory . . . and the demise of the elephant and human decency in the process of this unholy quest.” —The Huffington Post Praised for the nuance and sensitivity with which it approaches one of the most fraught conservation issues we face today, John Frederick Walker’s Ivory’s Ghosts tells the astonishing story of the power of ivory through the ages, and its impact on elephants. Long before gold and gemstones held allure, ivory came to be prized in every culture of the world—from ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century America to modern Japan—for its beauty, rarity, and ability to be finely carved. But the beauty came at an unfathomable cost. Walker lays bare the ivory trade’s cruel connection with the slave trade and the increasing slaughter of elephants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By the 1980s, elephant poaching reached levels that threatened the last great herds of the African continent, and led to a worldwide ban on the ancient international trade in tusks. But the ban has failed to stop poaching—or the emotional debate over what to do with the legitimate and growing stockpiles of ivory recovered from elephants that die of natural causes. “Ivory’s Ghost is essential reading for anyone concerned with conservation and with the tenuous future of one of the most magnificent creatures our earth has ever seen.” —George B. Schaller, author of A Naturalist and Other Beast
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