Alexander Wilson

Enlightened Naturalist

Edward H Burtt JR (Ed.)

2016
232 pages
ISBN 9781611487947
Aperçus

When talking about the Enlightenment, ornithology is seldom the first topic of conversation. Still, Enlightenment and ornithology converge in one important respect, that of abundance. In our time, new-wave ornithologists have renewed their faith in eighteenth-century expectations for the discovery of a gigantic number of bird species. It is at this intersection between abundant modern science and ambitious Enlightenment ideology that this remarkable collection of five essays on Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), the father of American ornithology, makes its original and delightful contribution. Alexander Wilson: Enlightened Naturalist recovers Wilson's literary, artistic and musical pursuits, and the cultural contexts of his life in the Scotland of Robert Burns. It also explores Wilson's scientific and philosophic contribution to American ornithology in American Ornithology; or The Natural History of the Birds of theUnited States, published in Philadelphia between 1808 and 1814. Alexander Wilson is richly illustrated, links to a web site of audio readings of Wilson's Scots poems--links that are embedded in the ebook--and includes a tribute to the late Edward H. Burtt, Jr., who died shortly before publication.

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Reviews

"The essays cover many aspects of Wilson's life - e.g., his artistic, literary, and musical contributions stand out along with his work as a naturalist...Other essays discuss his studies of American birds, and the effect he had on the field. There are many magnificently colored plates illustrating the bird species Wilson studied and painted. They are a fitting tribute to both Wilson and Burtt, and will appeal to naturalists, ornithology students, and natural history researchers."
-J. S. Schwartz, CUNY College of Staten Island (Professor emeritus); CHOICE, May 2017

About the editor:

Edward H Burtt is the Cincinnati Conference Professor of Zoology at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Distributed by Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group

Paperback: 9781611487961; eBook: 9781611487954