Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotic Species in America

Front Cover
W. W. Norton & Company, 2002 - Nature - 302 pages
Mosquitoes in Hawaii, sea lampreys in the Great Lakes, mountain goats in the Olympic Mountains of Washington State--not one of these species is native to the environment in which it now flourishes. Kim Todd's Tinkering with Eden is a lyrical, brilliantly written history of the introduction of exotic species into the United Sates, and how the well-meaning endeavors of scientists, explorers, and biologists have resulted in ecological catastrophe. Todd's assured voice will haunt her readers, and the stories she tells--such as the druggist who brought starlings to America because he wanted the landscape to feature every bird mentioned by Shakespeare--will forever change how we see our increasingly afflicted landscape and its unanticipated inhabitants.
 

Contents

Introduction
3
The Pigeons Progress
9
The Land of Milk and Honey
24
War Stories
39
Flight of the Mosquito
47
An Artificial Wedding
62
Following Silk Threads
77
Flush with Success
90
Improving the Olympics
169
Tarzan in the Empire of Sunshine
183
Swamp Riches
195
A Borderline Case
213
A Fly in Every Seed Head A Weevil in Every Root
230
Narrow Miss
245
Afterword
251
Endnotes
257

Trout Diplomacy
104
The Bug Hunters
118
Words on the Wing
135
Mission to the North
148
Bibliography
267
Acknowledgments
287
Index
289
Copyright

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About the author (2002)

Winner of the PEN/Jerard Award, Kim Todd holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the University of Montana. She lives in San Francisco, California.

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