The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder and Obsession
It can take centuries for mass infatuations, their causes and consequences, to come into focus. When they finally do, we get such books as The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder and Obsession ... Like bottles of champagne recovered from old shipwrecks, [the flowers] invited connoisseurship.
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A fascinating history ... Enthralling, authoritative, and discerning, The Lost Orchid is a brilliant account of the Victorian obsession over an exotic flower and the environmental destruction that resulted from Western imperialism.
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A vibrant natural history ... Drawing on abundant archival sources in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Bilston conveys in colorful detail the 'chaotic urgency' of the feverish pursuit of a remarkable epiphyte.
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