PIGEONS: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew D. Blechman
They've been worshipped as fertility goddesses, and used as symbols of peace. Domesticated since the dawn of man, they've been used as crucial communicators in war by every major historical superpower from ancient Egypt to America and are credited with saving thousands of lives. A pigeon delivered the results of the first Olympics in 776 B.C. and a pigeon first brought the news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo more than 2,500 years later. Charles Darwin relied heavily upon pigeons to help formulate and support his theory of evolution. Yet pigeons are reviled today as "rats of the sky" without just cause. How did we come to misunderstand one of mankind's most helpful and steadfast companions?
Author Andrew Blechman traveled across America and Europe to meet with pigeon fanciers and pigeon haters in a quest to chronicle the pigeon's transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw. Starting with a Brooklyn man's quest to win The Main Event (the pigeon world's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby), Andrew attends a pigeon breeders convention dedicated to breeding the perfect bird and also participates in a pigeon shoot where participants pay $150 to shoot live pigeons. From tracking down Mike Tyson, the nation's most famous pigeon lover, to spending time with Queen Elizabeth's Royal Pigeon Handler in England, and shedding light on a radical "pro-pigeon underground" in New York City, Pigeons tells for the first time the remarkable story behind this seemingly unremarkable bird.
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