The Medici Giraffe

Starred review from May 15, 2006
The title of this masterful and beguiling book is misleading. In Belozersakya's adept hands, exotic animals are mere jumping off points for marvelous adventures through worlds ranging from bustling, heroic Alexandria, Egypt, circa 300 B.C., to the creepy confines of William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon in the mid-20th century. While each of the seven sections revolves around exotic animals—a giraffe in Medici Florence, menageries in 16th-century Prague and Napoleonic France—it's the story that Belozersakya weaves around these beasts that draws the reader on. A common thread is the obsession caused by these fanciful beasts. Rudolf II, spent so much of his kingdom's fortune on collecting animals that there wasn't always enough money to feed his voracious lions. . "This might explain why on several occasions the Emperor had to recompense servants and subjects mauled by his felines." A meticulous researcher, the Russian-born Belozersakya, an art historian who has taught at Harvard and Tufts, uses these tales to consider how exotic animals have served as diplomatic gifts, as "symbols of power and learning," as mirrors of the cultures that prized them. This is a sumptuous read—smart, funny and utterly compelling. 8 illus. not seen by PW
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Starred review from August 15, 2006
Moscow-born art historian Belozerskaya has an exceptional talent for making history come alive for the general reader. This work is a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening romp through history, starting in ancient Alexandria and ending in present-day Washington, DC. Belozerskaya aims to -show that the way we perceive and treat animals illuminates our own values, concerns, and ambitions, - and in this she has clearly succeeded. Her first chapter, -Elephants for a Kingdom, - is a fascinating look at how elephants were acquired, transported, and trained in the Mediterranean region in the years following the death of Alexander the Great as well as the power and influence afforded those who acquired the animals. The following chapter, -Controlling Nature in the Roman Arena, - is just as enthralling, as are all subsequent chapters leading to the gift of giant pandas to the United States in the late 1970s. Belozerskaya is a talented writer able to blend unique and little-known historical facts into a narrative that never fails to keep the reader interested. The only disappointment is that the book eventually ends. Highly recommended, not only for animal lovers but for history buffs and social sciences fans as well; this work deserves a broad readership." -Edell M. Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., WI"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2006
Exotic animals have always been symbols of power, and the gift of exotic animals was a common way for rulers to cement alliances. Belozerskaya focuses on the rich and powerful whose interest in the animals, and what they later did with them, was a good mirror of the philosophy of their eras. The early Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, in the aftermath of the breakup of Alexander the Great's empire, needed elephants for their armies. The Roman Empire used the exotic animals sent as tribute to Rome, or captured from conquered territories, pitted against each other or against humans in the famous circuses. The Medici prince Lorenzo the Magnificent consolidated his power in Florence by working behind the scenes, but proof of his power came in the form of the gift of a giraffe from an Egyptian sultan. And in the final tale, pandas are given to Richard Nixon after his wife commented to Mao Zedong on how much she liked them. Although academically wordy, this look at the role of animals in international politics will interest both history and animal lovers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)