Review: An interesting read, but a bit unfocussed
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 8, 2014
I found this a bit disappointing, given the other glowing reviews I had read. It was interesting overall, but I wouldn't have said it was fascinating or revealing. It is much less the story of the idea of importing hippopotamuses (and other African animals) to the US, and more the story of one of the men who supported the idea. This is an interesting story in itself, and I would have been happy just to read a biography of this one character, whose life was certainly eventful enough to warrant it. In the end, I found the book unfocussed, and wasn't sure what the point of it was. The author also seemed to pontificate a little at the end about the way that the USA tends to solve its problems. Don't have an opinion on that, but it again seemed out of place to me. I would actually have given this 3.5 stars, if that were possible. Given that it's a Single and quite cheap, I would say it is still worth reading if you are interested in American history.