Zoo Story
By Thomas French

According to the latest figures, more than 175 million Americans visit zoos and aquariums every year, more than the combined annual attendance for the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball.

Now Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas French uncovers the rise and fall of a zoo - and the sprawling stories of the animals and humans inside - in ZOO STORY: Life in the Garden of Captives (Hyperion; July 6, 2010; $24.99; hardcover).

The book opens up with a surreal scene of eleven wild African elephants soaring across the Atlantic in a cargo jet, heading for new lives in captivity. We soon meet the alpha chimp who is obsessed with human blonds, the ferocious Sumatran tiger with a weakness for Obsession perfume, the young zookeeper whose extraordinary commitment to animals turns her into a surrogate mother to some of them, and a brilliant but arrogant CEO known to his staff as El Diablo Blanco.

While he provides detailed, colorful, and balanced reporting into the world of zoos, French's book will compel readers to consider both sides to universal questions such as the ethics of keeping animals captive, the complex relationship between humans and animals, and the nature of freedom in an overcrowded world.

French spent six years researching and reporting intensively at the zoo, following the keepers and getting to know the animals. He also traveled to Swaziland and South Africa for background reporting on the elephants and their importation, and followed the zoo staff as they traveled on special assignment, to the tropical forests of Panama, the African Savanna, and New York City for an appearance on Conan O'Brien's show.

ZOO STORY is the rare nonfiction book that follows life and death inside a single zoo with vivid details, a strong narrative arc, and a gripping climax. The characters, both human and animal, are unforgettable and the story is riveting.