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Locust: the devastating rise and mysterious disappearance of the insect that shaped the American frontier

2005; Association of College and Research Libraries; Volume: 42; Issue: 06 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5860/choice.42-3425

1943-5975

Jeffrey A. Lockwood,

Animal and Plant Science Education

The story of America's most extraordinary insect, brilliantly recounted by scientist who solved mystery of its extinction. Throughout nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across continent, turning noon into dusk, demolishing farm communities, and bringing trains to a halt as crushed bodies of insects greased rails. In 1876, US Congress declared locust the single greatest impediment to settlement of country. From Dakotas to Texas, from California to Iowa, swarms pushed thousands of settlers to brink of starvation, prompting federal government to enlist some of greatest scientific minds of day and thereby jumpstarting fledgling science of entomology. Over next few decades, Rocky Mountain locust suddenly--and mysteriously--vanished. A century later, Jeffrey Lockwood set out to discover why. Unco nvinced by reigning theories, he searched for new evidence in musty books, crumbling maps, and crevassed glaciers, eventually piecing together elusive answer: A group of early settlers unwittingly destroyed locust's sanctuaries just as insect was experiencing a natural population crash. Drawing on historical accounts and modern science, Locust brings to life cultural, economic, and political forces at work in America in late-nineteenth century, even as it solves one of greatest ecological mysteries of our time.