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dobbydoo22's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating. This definitely made me want to read more extensive biographies about the main 'characters.'
jeanne_i_d's review against another edition
4.0
A fun Kindle single from Atavist covering the "Meat Question" plaguing America in 1910. But wait, there's more ....there's presidents and wars and spies and bombings and Boy Scouts. Oh yes Hippos..Yes, truth is stranger than fiction.
nikki_rgs's review against another edition
5.0
Things you never knew you never knew
Such an eccentric and captivating slice of American history. I wish more things like this were taught in school. Great list of recommended reading at the end as well.
Such an eccentric and captivating slice of American history. I wish more things like this were taught in school. Great list of recommended reading at the end as well.
almartin's review
4.0
Larger than life characters and a utterly outlandish premise that seems as though it came from an alternate universe.
Not sure how many tricks Atavist has up their sleeves but there's definitely more than one screenplay in the lives of Burnham and Duquesne.
n.b he hangs onto his British uniform to go behind enemy lines and knock off some officers. The whole thing sounds like a lost Bond movie plot.
There are more prison escapes, a fairly improbable third act with a Nazi spy ring, and more Zelig-like appearances by Burnham across the American frontier -- American Hippopotamus has the beating heart of any number of those 'True Stories for Boys' (Davy Crockett, etc), and that breathless tone is both the strength and ultimate weakness of American Hippo.
As good as the Burnham story is, he was, a soldier of fortune in a brutal and ugly conquest of Rhodesia. It's more than a little jarring - there's a whole academic discipline that thinks about latent colonial/imperial attitudes in literature, and here you have a guy that was straight up murdering and pillaging villages for Cecil Rhodes and it doesn't ever really get addressed.
The idea was to import hippopotamuses from Africa, set them in the swamplands along the Gulf Coast, and raise them for food. The idea was to turn America into a nation of hippo ranchers.
Not sure how many tricks Atavist has up their sleeves but there's definitely more than one screenplay in the lives of Burnham and Duquesne.
At one point, [Duquesne] was shipped all the way to a prison in Lisbon. But he escaped easily, first finding the time to seduce his jailer’s daughter. He then made his way to England, claimed to be a Boer defector, enlisted as a British soldier, hitched a ride back to the front in Africa, and took off on his own again.
n.b he hangs onto his British uniform to go behind enemy lines and knock off some officers. The whole thing sounds like a lost Bond movie plot.
There are more prison escapes, a fairly improbable third act with a Nazi spy ring, and more Zelig-like appearances by Burnham across the American frontier -- American Hippopotamus has the beating heart of any number of those 'True Stories for Boys' (Davy Crockett, etc), and that breathless tone is both the strength and ultimate weakness of American Hippo.
As good as the Burnham story is, he was, a soldier of fortune in a brutal and ugly conquest of Rhodesia. It's more than a little jarring - there's a whole academic discipline that thinks about latent colonial/imperial attitudes in literature, and here you have a guy that was straight up murdering and pillaging villages for Cecil Rhodes and it doesn't ever really get addressed.
suzannelf's review
4.0
I learned something new and weird about history from this book. Would recommend.
jessferg's review
3.0
I feel guilty calling this a "book" - it's more like a long article. Production aside, this is a very interesting story - maybe a mini-biography - about two men at odds who happen to end up on a committee to attempt to import African animals for American consumption.
The writing and organization are very good and there are all sorts of strange coincidences and little facts that may not relate directly to the hippo importation issues but are definitely fascinating.
The story itself is a bit of a let down - obviously we never started eating hippos in the US - but what a strange, and enjoyable, little bit of history.
The writing and organization are very good and there are all sorts of strange coincidences and little facts that may not relate directly to the hippo importation issues but are definitely fascinating.
The story itself is a bit of a let down - obviously we never started eating hippos in the US - but what a strange, and enjoyable, little bit of history.
norsulaulu's review
4.0
3.5
I definitely enjoyed reading this, though I will say that it isn't exactly what I was expecting. I had no idea up until recently that there was such an idea in America's past as the possibility of hippopotamus importation and consumption. But when I found out that there was (from reading [b:River of Teeth|31445891|River of Teeth (River of Teeth #1)|Sarah Gailey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484234556s/31445891.jpg|52146842]) I was definitely interested in learning more.
This article wasn't nearly as much about hippo meat and the New Food Source Society as I had hoped it would be. This piece is rather more about the men behind the idea. And don't get me wrong – these guys are absolutely fascinating – but their stories weren't really what I had in mind. That said, I did enjoy learning about them and also a little segway into the preparedness movement, another part of American history I was unfamiliar with.
I thought that the piece was very well written and really feels more like an adventure story of sorts. Plus the author's use of the word "hippopotamuslessness" gave me a little chuckle.
I was slightly disappointed though that there weren't specific foot/endnotes regarding citations so that I could look more into what I was especially interested in, but rather all of the sources were clumped together. I am still planning to look more into other Atavist publications though to see what other odd stories I might stumble across.
I definitely enjoyed reading this, though I will say that it isn't exactly what I was expecting. I had no idea up until recently that there was such an idea in America's past as the possibility of hippopotamus importation and consumption. But when I found out that there was (from reading [b:River of Teeth|31445891|River of Teeth (River of Teeth #1)|Sarah Gailey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484234556s/31445891.jpg|52146842]) I was definitely interested in learning more.
This article wasn't nearly as much about hippo meat and the New Food Source Society as I had hoped it would be. This piece is rather more about the men behind the idea. And don't get me wrong – these guys are absolutely fascinating – but their stories weren't really what I had in mind. That said, I did enjoy learning about them and also a little segway into the preparedness movement, another part of American history I was unfamiliar with.
I thought that the piece was very well written and really feels more like an adventure story of sorts. Plus the author's use of the word "hippopotamuslessness" gave me a little chuckle.
I was slightly disappointed though that there weren't specific foot/endnotes regarding citations so that I could look more into what I was especially interested in, but rather all of the sources were clumped together. I am still planning to look more into other Atavist publications though to see what other odd stories I might stumble across.