Falcon (Animal Series) - Softcover

Macdonald, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780236417 ISBN 13: 9781780236414

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2016

Synopsis

Before best-selling author Helen Macdonald told the story of the goshawk in H Is for Hawk, she told the story of the falcon, in a cultural history of the masterful creature that can “cut the sky in two” with the “perfectly aerodynamic profile of a raindrop,” as she so incisively puts it. In talon-sharp prose she explores the spell the falcon has had over her and, by extension, all of us, whether we’ve seen them “through binoculars, framed on gallery walls, versified by poets, flown as hunting birds, through Manhattan windows, sewn on flags, stamped on badges, or winnowing through the clouds over abandoned arctic radar stations.”
            Macdonald dives through centuries and careens around the globe to tell the story of the falcon as it has flown in the wild skies of the natural world and those of our imagination. Mixing history, myth, and legend, she explores the long history of the sport of falconry in many human cultures—from Japan to Abu Dhabi to Oxford; she analyzes the falcon’s talismanic power as a symbol in art, politics, and business; and she addresses the ways we have both endangered and protected it. Along the way we discover how falcons were mobilized in secret military projects; their links with espionage, the Third Reich, the Holy Roman Empire, and space programs; and how they have figured in countless stories of heroism and, of course, the erotic.
            Best of all, Macdonald has given us something fresh: a new introduction that draws on all her experience to even further invigorate her cherished subject. The result is a deeply informed book written with the same astonishing lyrical grace that has captivated readers and had everyone talking about this writer-cum-falconer.
 

About this title

About the Author

Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, illustrator, historian, naturalist, and an affiliated research scholar of history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of the best-selling H Is for Hawk.
 

Review

“This wonderful book explores how the fastest animals in history have carried the dreams of mankind on their wing. . . . Although Macdonald is passionate about birds of prey, and especially falcons, what makes this book so remarkable is not just that it is beautifully written but that it never loses sight of the big picture: the way these exquisite aerial predators—the fastest animals that have ever lived—have been used as constantly changing repositories for human meanings. . . . She weaves a memorable account of this most beguiling of creatures, from its earliest shamanistic uses to Marvel Comics’ first black superhero, the Falcon. A master class on how to write cultural history.” (Guardian)

“In the light of her new literary reputation, many will read, and should read, this book who did not read it before.”
  (Times Literary Supplement)

"What Macdonald does with Falcon is bring all of herself to the subject. She breathes life into the work; pulls the lives of falcons and people together into a rare three-dimensional portrait. The effect is beautiful and lasting."
  (North American Falconers Association)

About this edition

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1780236417
• ISBN 13: 9781780236414
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240