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  • Published: 15 December 2013
  • ISBN: 9780307742438
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $38.00

Between Man and Beast

An Unlikely Explorer and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World by Storm



In 1836, Paul Du Chaillu ventured into the African jungle in search of a mythic beast, the gorilla. After wild encounters with vicious cannibals, deadly snakes, and tribal kings, Du Chaillu emerged with twenty preserved gorilla skins--two of which were stuffed and brought on tour--and walked smack dab into the biggest scientific debate of the time: Darwin's theory of evolution. Quickly, Du Chaillu's trophies went from objects of wonder to key pieces in an all out intellectual war. With a wide range of characters, including Abraham Lincoln, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.T. Barnum, Thackeray, and of course, Charles Darwin, this is a one of a kind book about a singular moment in history.

In 1856, Paul Du Chaillu ventured into the African jungle in search of a mythic beast, the gorilla. After wild encounters with vicious cannibals, deadly snakes, and tribal kings, Du Chaillu emerged with 20 preserved gorilla skins—two of which were stuffed and brought on tour—and walked smack dab into the biggest scientific debate of the time: Darwin's theory of evolution. Quickly, Du Chaillu's trophies went from objects of wonder to key pieces in an all-out intellectual war. With a wide range of characters, including Abraham Lincoln, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.T Barnum, Thackeray, and of course, Charles Darwin, this is a one of a kind book about a singular moment in history.

  • Published: 15 December 2013
  • ISBN: 9780307742438
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $38.00

Praise for Between Man and Beast

  • COVER QUOTE: "[An] entertaining and provocative story...it has the narrative flow and evocative language of a fine historical novel."--The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  • "Engrossing...would go great with popcorn.... Addresses big topics--evolution, abolition--but they remain in service of the narrative, providing context for colorful conflict." --The Wall Street Journal
  • "Swift, clever, well-researched and provocative.... Reel skillfully shifts our attention from continent to continent, from past to present, until the story's tributaries merge and rush toward the conclusion." --The Plain Dealer