Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect That Shaped the American Frontier - Hardcover
Synopsis
The story of America s most extraordinary insect, recounted by the scientist who solved the mystery of its extinction. Throughout the 19th century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the continent, turning noon into dusk, devastating farms, & bringing trains to a halt. These outbreaks forced the fed. gov t. to establish a commission that brought together some of the greatest scientific minds of the day -- the first time science was called upon to address a nat. crisis. The commission began the fledgling field of entomology, launching a golden era of discovery. Over the next few decades, the Rocky Mtn. Locust suddenly -- & mysteriously -- vanished. Lockwood eventually solved one of the greatest ecological mysteries of our time. Illus.
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Review
Imagine looking up to see an ominous black cloud on the horizon. Now imagine your growing horror as you watch that cloud reveal itself as an immense, miles-wide swarm of ravenous insects. In Locust, entomologist Jeffrey A. Lockwood reveals the bizarre history of a bug responsible for killing countless settlers on the American plains. First-hand accounts of the Rocky Mountain locust's horrific depredations are reproduced in the book, and Lockwood adds his own vivid reconstructions:
We expect grasshoppers and locusts to consume our gardens and fields, but when these insects begin to feed on fabric and flesh something seems demonically amiss.... Although the settlers may have been astonished by the locusts' voracity, they were appalled by the insects' fierce cannibalism.
Swarms of locusts would touch down like tornadoes on homesteads and farms, stripping away every growing thing and desperately eating other insects in search of much-needed fat and protein. These hordes were thought by many, including the Mormon settlers in Utah, to be divine punishments, or at least signs from above. After describing the effects this insect had on the American frontier, Lockwood delves into the entomologic mystery of the locusts' abrupt disappearance. Had they become extinct? Or gone into hiding in some ecological refuge? When Lockwood abandons history for science, his glee for his subject keeps the book moving, albeit slower than in the first few chapters. --Therese Littleton
About the Author
Jeffrey A. Lockwood is Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wyoming. The author of Grasshopper Dreaming, he has been awarded a Pushcart Prize as well as the 2003 John Burroughs Award.
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