Raptor: A Journey through Birds - Hardcover

Lockhart, James Macdonald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022647058X ISBN 13: 9780226470580

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2017

Synopsis

From the merlin to the golden eagle, the goshawk to the honey buzzard, James Macdonald Lockhart’s stunning debut is a quest of beak, talon, wing, and sky. On its surface, Raptor is a journey across the British Isles in search of fifteen species of birds of prey, but as Lockhart seeks out these elusive predators, his quest becomes so much more: an incomparably elegant elegy on the beauty of the British landscape and, through the birds, a journey toward understanding an awesome power at the heart of the natural world—a power that is majestic and frightening in its strength, but also fragile.

Taking as his guide the nineteenth-century Scottish naturalist and artist William MacGillivray, Lockhart loosely follows the historical trail forged by MacGillivray as he ventured from Aberdeen to London filling his pockets with plants and writing and illustrating the canonical A History of British Birds. Linking his journey to that of his muse, Lockhart shares his own encounters with raptors ranging from the scarce osprey to the successfully reintroduced red kite, a species once protected by medieval royal statute, revealing with poetic immediacy the extraordinary behaviors of these birds and the extreme environments they call home.

Creatures both worshipped and reviled, raptors have a talon-hold on the human heart and imagination. With his book, Lockhart unravels these complicated ties in a work by turns reverent and euphoric—an interweaving of history, travel, and nature writing at its best. A hymn to wanderers, to the land and to the sky, and especially to the birds, Raptor soars.

About this title

About the Author

James Macdonald Lockhart was born in 1975. Raptor is his first book and the recipient of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction. He lives in Warwickshire, United Kingdom.

Review

“An enthralling journey. . . . This illuminating book serves as homage to a brilliant naturalist and extraordinary birds. If you loved H Is for Hawk, put this next on your reading list.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

One of Kirkus's Best Books of 2017 (Kirkus Reviews)

“[One of the] best books about birds and birding [of the year]. . . . The prose is so lovely that you may find yourself pondering whether this really is Lockhart’s first book.” (GrrlScientist Forbes)

“An odyssey. . . . A nature travelogue for dipping into and savoring.” (Booklist)

“Unique and charming. . . . This rambling, discursive, often poetic narrative should be savored.” (Library Journal)

"The literary equivalent of an impressionistic painting—an assemblage of small bits that come together to form an unexpectedly satisfying whole. We see birds in a daily struggle to make a living, each in their own way—some gliding high above open land, some skimming the tops of grasses, others sitting motionless in trees, still others stealing the catch of other species. . . . What makes this natural history so deeply affecting is not just Lockhart’s knowledge of English birds, but his evocative command of the English language. The color of a marsh harrier’s plumage is described ‘like early morning fireplace ash before it is disturbed, the undercoat of grey, the black charcoal splints, the red fibrous imprint of the burnt-out logs.’ The kite, Lockhart notes, ‘is the least linear of raptors, it spends its time unravelling imaginary balls of string in the air.’ Later, watching a uniquely insectivorous predator, he tells us ‘the honey buzzard slips from its lookout branch like a shadow unhooking itself and follows in the wasp’s wake, tracking the wasp back to its nest.’ Throughout this memorable journey, Lockhart’s prose soars and hits its mark like the raptors he so admires.” (Natural History)

"A beautifully written paean to flight. . . . Lockhart channels each experience with such vivid strokes that you practically peer through the binoculars with him—searching for something high up in the distance, soaring to the wind." (Jonathan Hahn Sierra)

"Elegant." (Katharine Norbury Guardian)

“Lockhart’s first book and what a tour de force it is. He explores Britain’s wilder places in search of our resident birds of prey and, in a language that is evocative, rapturous, and sensual, conjures up our countryside at its best and worst. Raptors, perhaps more than any other animals, define our landscapes and the fragility of nature, and he beautifully evokes this in his descriptions of a ‘huge bloodshot sun finding and lighting up the delicate gold brushed into the eagle’s nape.’” (Morningstar)

“Lockhart’s soaring debut is a perfect synthesis of travel writing and natural history. The premise of Raptor is simple. . . . Yet the fruits of his labor are anything but plain as he laces vivid prose with illuminating facts to explore his own colorful experiences without shifting focus from the birds themselves. Following in the tradition of T. H. White’s The Goshawk, J. A. Baker’s The Peregrine, and, most recently, Helen Macdonald’s rapturously received H is for Hawk, Lockhart elegantly depicts these creatures of the sky and, in so doing, celebrates the natural richness of the country over which they fly.” (Anna Godfrey Financial Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 022647058X
• ISBN 13: 9780226470580
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384