Ebook336 pages4 hours
The Zookeepers' War: An Incredible True Story from the Cold War
By J.W. Mohnhaupt and Shelley Frisch
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
The unbelievable true story of the Cold War’s strangest proxy war, fought between the zoos on either side of the Berlin Wall.
“The liveliness of Mohnhaupt’s storytelling and the wonderful eccentricity of his subject matter make this book well worth a read.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Living in West Berlin in the 1960s often felt like living in a zoo, everyone packed together behind a wall, with the world always watching. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, East Berlin and its zoo were spacious and lush, socialist utopias where everything was perfectly planned... and then rarely completed.
Berlin’s two zoos in East and West quickly became symbols of the divided city’s two halves. So no one was terribly surprised when the head zookeepers on either side started an animal arms race—rather than stockpiling nuclear warheads, they competed to have the most pandas and hippos. Soon, state funds were being diverted toward giving these new animals lavish welcomes worthy of visiting dignitaries. West German presidential candidates were talking about zoo policy on the campaign trail. And eventually politicians on both side of the Wall became convinced that if their zoo proved to be inferior, that would mean their country’s whole ideology was too.
A quirky piece of Cold War history unlike anything you’ve heard before, The Zookeepers’ War is an epic tale of desperate rivalries, human follies, and an animal-mad city in which zookeeping became a way of continuing politics by other means.
“The liveliness of Mohnhaupt’s storytelling and the wonderful eccentricity of his subject matter make this book well worth a read.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Living in West Berlin in the 1960s often felt like living in a zoo, everyone packed together behind a wall, with the world always watching. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, East Berlin and its zoo were spacious and lush, socialist utopias where everything was perfectly planned... and then rarely completed.
Berlin’s two zoos in East and West quickly became symbols of the divided city’s two halves. So no one was terribly surprised when the head zookeepers on either side started an animal arms race—rather than stockpiling nuclear warheads, they competed to have the most pandas and hippos. Soon, state funds were being diverted toward giving these new animals lavish welcomes worthy of visiting dignitaries. West German presidential candidates were talking about zoo policy on the campaign trail. And eventually politicians on both side of the Wall became convinced that if their zoo proved to be inferior, that would mean their country’s whole ideology was too.
A quirky piece of Cold War history unlike anything you’ve heard before, The Zookeepers’ War is an epic tale of desperate rivalries, human follies, and an animal-mad city in which zookeeping became a way of continuing politics by other means.
Author
J.W. Mohnhaupt
Jan Mohnhaupt has written for many of Germany’s leading newspapers and magazines. The Zookeepers’ War is his first book to be translated into English. He lives in Munich, where he’s happy to be close to one of his favorite zoos.
Related to The Zookeepers' War
Related ebooks
On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dinosaur Artist: obsession, betrayal, and the quest for Earth’s ultimate trophy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bad Ideas: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Edge: The Pressured Past and Precarious Future of California's Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBabylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Saviour Fish: Life and Death on Africa's Greatest Lake Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Catching Breath: The Making and Unmaking of Tuberculosis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bacteria and Bayonets: The Impact of Disease in American Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings58 Degrees North: The Mysterious Sinking of the Arctic Rose Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blue Wonder: Why the Sea Glows, Fish Sing, and Other Astonishing Insights from the Ocean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBillion-Dollar Fish: The Untold Story of Alaska Pollock Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Cold Mountain Path: The Ghost Town Decades of McCarthy-Kennecott, Alaska Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endangered Orcas: The Story of the Southern Residents Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Land of the Lion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEngineering Eden: A Violent Death, a Federal Trial, and the Struggle to Restore Nature in Our National Parks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Orca Scientists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpell of the Tiger: The Man-Eaters of Sundarbans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Almost Human: The Story of Julius, the Chimpanzee Caught between Two Worlds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Whaling Season: An Inside Account Of The Struggle To Stop Commercial Whaling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Father of Lions: One Man's Remarkable Quest to Save Mosul's Zoo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Villager Jim's Highland Cows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeds of Science: Why We Got It So Wrong On GMOs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
European History For You
Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen: The Complete Novels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Six Wives of Henry VIII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Violent Abuse of Women: In 17th and 18th Century Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of English Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of the World: The Story of Mankind From Prehistory to the Modern Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Zookeepers' War
Rating: 3.555555611111111 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
9 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is being marketed as an "International Bestseller" and maybe it is, but unless you have a deep or personal interest in the Berlin Zoo during the Cold War it may be a lot of trivia about minor characters you will soon forget. Curiously there is little about animals and mostly backgrounds, endless detailed backgrounds, of zoo officials. The book is 90% done and new characters and backgrounds are being introduced. Apparently the Berlin Zoo was an important part of the culture there during the Cold War and this reveals the inside story of the major players and context. It has some fun anecdotal stories, the "Moby Dick" of the Rhine was my favorite which composed about 5 pages.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5politics, animals, Germany, zoo, nonfiction, historical research ***** The publisher's blurb is okay, but only centers on the different options and methods of a succession of zoo directors in Germany and particularly in Berlin. Much more is presented and very well done. It presents a potted history of the attitudes of both the populace and zoo directors/employees worldwide over the course of at least a century and how current understanding came to be. Things that were accepted and predictable have become reprehensible. It also demonstrates how ego becomes overwhelming for some and how that affects the public good. The political climate is important, but it's the internal politics of the professional community that is so astounding to those of us on the outside of the moats and tempered glass walls. My two most memorable parts are the white whale in the Rhine, and the procurement of white whales from within Hudson Bay in Canada! Many thanks to Shelley Frisch for the flawless translation that allows non German readers to enjoy and learn from this book.I requested and received a free ebook copy from Simon and Schuster Publishing via NetGalley.Many thanks, but for free one doesn't get the photos!
Book preview
The Zookeepers' War - J.W. Mohnhaupt
a book_preview_excerpt.html |˒ƒ寠73YV]=[R2"KXMEP(drq7 Ҏ_2GEu/$ce"?h
kGޙw駿o~?O00tChΖovmܶ0n\ ~f}ǟ&V}eberUՀt?叟?Me'fљzk{_n'a;zHキ'Mv{jÇvtTԊ*;ӺI?sQ\`OѻÓ01/۩
./k-2U}Or
:aDb.鬉qmyh
ٚU1&ȝOo
Pš:YJs}q 2Ua
Ί7H"avԝ]&\3.*fUo