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Title: American Monster: How the Nation's First Prehistoric Creature Became a Symbol of National Identity by Paul Semonin ISBN: 0-8147-8120-9 Publisher: New York University Press Pub. Date: November, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A Wonderful Blend of Science and History
Comment: This book was a delight! The author recreated in a wonderful style the amazing story of the earliest finds of large American fossils along the Hudson River and the Kentucky frontier, the scientist-naturalists of the time, how they worked and thought, and how it all fits into our early United States history. This book bridges several disciplines. As an environmental geologist I loved learning how a niche of my science fits into the historical scene. I recommend this book to scientists, university science classes, and the interested reader to add social and historic breadth to science understanding. How many scientists know of Thomas Jefferson's role in these early fossil debates? And, this book weaves together hundreds of details and several stories that tie religion, exploration, and social science theories to science. To top it off, there are 50 stunning illustrations. One of my favorites is the 1756 drawing of a "giant grinder" by the French mineralogist Jean Etienne Guettard. In this Internet age of instant communication it amazed me to realize that it sometimes took a year or more for scientists to share their data and theories on the "American Monster".

Rating: 2
Summary: American Monster
Comment: In his preface, the author quotes his wife as saying, "Don't ramble-get to the point." Semonin never takes her advice and thus this is a book that should have been no more than half as long as this disjointed collection of digressions. There are really several stories in this book. I wish the author had decided which one he wanted to tell. Semonin can be an engaging storyteller and the discovery of fossil mastodon bones in North America came at a formative stage in American history. Too bad the author didn't find an editor who was willing to make him take his wife's advice.

Rating: 5
Summary: American Monster
Comment: For anyone interested in how today's myths of the prehuman past came to be, this book is essential. There ar more than 30 pages of footnotes, as well as a lengthy bibliography, but American Monster is written for general readers as well as specialists. Semonin's style is fluid, well-paced, and rich in detail yet precise, and would be the envy of a novelist.

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