By Jay Kirk. (Hardcover)

"Kingdom under Glass" is the splendid story of a man and his obsession, a genius who survived incredible hardships while collecting animals to show the majesty, the beauty, the variety of East Africa's swindling wildlife. In order to appreciate Carl Akeley's contribution to science as the premier taxidermist who preserved animals as an art form one has to see his African panoramas in the Museum of Natural History in New York City. This is a highly unusual biography about a highly unusual man who began stuffing birds' skins for the milliner's trade as a boy. One wonders, why? Why would anyone want to do that? 200,000 birds from pheasants to sparrows were slain a year to provide the millinery trade with hat decorations. But Carl had his calling, his life's work running in his veins: to make a mounted animal or bird absolutely life-like and scientifically accurate, and to put them into an authentic environment.