{"product_id":"homesick-for-a-world-unknown-isbn-9781984881342","title":"Homesick for a World Unknown","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn this riveting portrait of George B. Schaller, the world’s leading field biologist, Miriam Horn captures the seventy years he spent living among wild animals in the world’s remotest regions, forever altering how we see—and save—the natural world\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1959, though just twenty-six years old and a graduate student, George B. Schaller shrugged off warnings of mortal danger and set off for the Belgian Congo to do what no other scientist had dared: study mountain gorillas, the real King Kong, by living alongside them. Boldly refusing arms and retinue, Schaller and his wife, Kay, established a home in the jungle and came to share the apes’ rhythms and rules. After more than two years of immersive research—a groundbreaking methodology he would spend his life honing—Schaller transformed how the world viewed gorillas; they were not murderous brutes but tender creatures, and more like humans than any twentieth-century scientist had recognized. His mission to revolutionize our perceptions of wild animals would propel him across four continents and inspire generations of scientists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eHomesick for a World Unknown\u003c\/i\u003e, Miriam Horn draws on thousands of pages from Schaller’s journals and letters, globe-spanning interviews, and two journeys into the field with the legendary scientist himself to trace his emergence as the founding father of modern wildlife conservation. She probes what drives him to know Earth’s wildest places and most fearsome creatures, beginning with a childhood upended by displacement and atrocity. Born in Berlin in 1933 to an American socialite married to a German diplomat during the Nazi era, the young Schaller was moved from one occupied country to another before finally arriving with his mother in the U.S. in 1947, as an enemy alien. It was in the Missouri woods that teenage George found a place of respite and at the University of Alaska that he found both his calling and a lifelong partner in Kay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the decades following his work in the Congo, Schaller went on to conduct the earliest studies of Indian tigers, Serengeti lions, Brazilian jaguars, Chinese pandas, and Tibetan brown bears, meticulously cataloging their private lives. He navigated acute danger, violent conflict, and treacherous politics in pursuit of empathy for and preservation of creatures big and small. It was Schaller who first guided Jane Goodall on her chimp study in Tanzania and led Peter Matthiessen into Nepal in search of the snow leopard. And while remaking wildlife science, his impact went further still: he spurred the creation of vast national parks and partnered with local communities to protect the homes they share with these animals. A vivid and captivating account of the adventurous life of George B. Schaller, here is the definitive portrait of the man who dared to challenge us to rethink our place in the natural world.“[A] comprehensive biography of the renowned scientist and adventurer . . . A fine account of a life well lived, to the benefit of all who love animals.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An invaluable portrait . . . As lavishly specific as its subject’s lifework . . .  Horn is a spirited, virtuoso biographer and this tour de force is electric with Schaller’s dramatic and audacious pursuits, epic fortitude and determination, intrepidness and diplomacy, camouflaged pain and sheer ecstasy over the marvels of Earth, all charged by his resounding belief that ‘every being has an equal claim on life and freedom.’”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A must-read for anyone interested in the history of conservation, as well as readers looking for solutions to current-day conservation crises.”\u003ci\u003e —\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eLaura Nan Hargrove, \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“George Schaller seems to have met, and understood, every animal on earth, from Serengeti lions to South American jaguars to Tibetan brown bears. As notable for his foundational texts as for his unorthodox methods, Schaller could lasso an anaconda and mesmerize a panda. (Then there were the unusual pets, the lion cub, warthog, sand boa, and mongoose among them). First in the field, Schaller was the last of his kind; Miriam Horn makes us homesick for his brand of immersive adventure in this splendid, gracefully written biography.” —\u003cb\u003eStacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Revolutionary\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A magnificent and inspiring book on a magnificent and inspiring life. George Schaller’s work has forever changed our understanding of animals and the science of conservation and field biology, and this book explores the deep—and at times dark—well from which he draws his extraordinary courage, compassion, and insight. I was riveted from page one, and you will be, too.\" —\u003cb\u003eSy Montgomery, National Book Award Finalist and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Soul of an Octopus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Before there was Goodall or Fossey, before there were \u003ci\u003eNational Geographic\u003c\/i\u003e wildlife films, school conservation clubs, Earth Day, there was George Schaller, our greatest naturalist. For 70 years, he has gone to Earth's last wild places to understand their animals, to translate and advocate for them, all while seemingly never leaving a soiling footprint in his wake. This is the beautiful biography that those of us in awe of Schaller have waited for.\" —\u003cb\u003eRobert Sapolsky, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDetermined \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBehave\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An enthralling, engaging masterwork, \u003ci\u003eHomesick for a World Unknown\u003c\/i\u003e follows almost day by day the life of the pioneering field biologist George Schaller. As he did, we live among Congo gorillas, Indian tigers, Serengeti lions, Tibetan bears. He taught Jane Goodall how to study chimps. He set an example for whole generations of scientists. What a story!” —\u003cb\u003eRichard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Making of the Atomic Bomb \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eScientist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A brilliant, beautifully crafted biography of the world’s most intrepid explorer and naturalist. Miriam Horn captures George Schaller’s relentless, patient encounters with Africa’s mountain gorillas, Nepal’s snow leopards and dozens of other fast-disappearing wildlife throughout the globe. Schaller’s life is a heart-rending story of physical courage, stamina and human empathy for the private lives of these remarkable creatures. Horn’s Schaller is at once an adventure story, a love story and an inspiring celebration of scientific inquiry. A formidable achievement.\" —\u003cb\u003eKai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eMiriam Horn\u003c\/b\u003e is a bestselling author, environmental advocate, journalist, and filmmaker. Her previous books include \u003ci\u003eRebels in White Gloves\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEarth: The Sequel\u003c\/i\u003e (coauthor), and \u003ci\u003eRancher, Farmer, Fisherman\u003c\/i\u003e. She produced two as documentary films, with one premiering at Sundance. Before turning to books, Horn worked at the Environmental Defense Fund and the US Forest Service, and wrote for magazines and newspapers, including \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times.\u003c\/i\u003e She lives in Colorado, in the South San Juan Mountains.","brand":"Penguin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233234235621,"sku":"NP9781984881342","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781984881342.jpg?v=1767729179","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/homesick-for-a-world-unknown-isbn-9781984881342","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}