The Lady and the Panda
By Vickyi Constantine Croke
By Vickyi Constantine Croke
BOOK REVIEWS:
Booklist
*Starred Review* It was once a story that every school kid knew. Ruth Harkness, a dress-designing socialite, following a trip laid out by her dead husband, captured the first giant panda to ever be seen in the West. Little Su-Lin, as the infant panda was named, made the front page of the Chicago Tribune for nine days straight after he was placed on display at Brookfield Zoo. Croke discovered the story while researching zoos and became fascinated by the adventure. Harkness' husband, Bill, died in China while on an expedition to capture the first live panda. The grieving Ruth, in a spirit of kinship with her husband, decided that the best homage to his memory was to finish what he had started. The moment when the expedition discovered the infant Su-Lin, bolstered by the fact that they kept him alive, made history. Croke has created an exciting tale, full of the color and spectacle of a lost, exotic era and place. She was given access to Harkness' letters to her closest friend, and the detail she gleaned from this correspondence gives such intimacy to the text that it simply pulls the reader in. Harkness was a mass of contrasts: sophisticated city dweller and earthy lover of remote places, hard-drinking libertine, and devoted nurturer of infant pandas (yes, she went back and got more), and Croke evokes her character in an evenhanded style that makes her three-dimensional. Complete with period photographs.
Publisher’s Weekly
Starred Review. During the Great Depression, inexpensive entertainment could be had at any city zoo. The exploits of the utterly macho men who bagged the beasts also made good adventure-film fodder. Yet one of the most famous animals ever brought to America—the giant panda—was captured by a woman, Ruth Harkness. Vicki Constantine Croke, the "Animal Beat" columnist for the Boston Globe, became fascinated by bohemian socialite Harkness, who was left alone and in difficult financial straits in 1936 after her husband died trying to bring a giant panda back from China. Instead of mourning, Harkness took on the mission. Arriving in Hong Kong with "a whiskey soda in one hand and a Chesterfield in the other," she soon found herself up against ruthless competitors, bandits, foul weather and warfare. Luckily, she was accompanied by the handsome and capable Quentin Young, her Chinese guide and eventual lover. This gripping book retraces their steps through the isolated and rugged wilderness where pandas hide, and then back to America, where the strange bears took the West by storm. Despite her remarkable journey, Harkness was derided and ignored by male adventurers. In dusting off this exciting tale, Constantine Croke (The Modern Ark: Zoos Past, Present and Future) returns Harkness to her rightful place in the top rank of zoological explorers.
Bookmarks Magazine
Following the publication of her article on Harkness in The Washington Post, Croke discovered hundreds of letters from Harkness’s trip to China. Armed with this correspondence, as well as hours of new interviews conducted for the project, Croke, the "Animal Beat" writer for the Boston Globe and author of The Modern Ark (1997), has produced this well-researched, well-written tale. The Lady and the Panda succeeds as a grand adventure and celebration of an overlooked independent woman whom Croke describes as "part Myrna Loy, part Jane Goodall." Critics tease out themes of early 20th-century gender and culture issues as well as a cautionary tale about the hazards of exploration for endangered species. Only some complaints of overly purple prose mar the generally positive embrace of Croke’s exotic story.
BETH’S COMMENTS:
This continues an Asian theme of books I have been reading; often facts on different time periods are filled in with the various books I have read. I did not realize I had recently concentrated on one area of the world, but after Nepal, perhaps it is to be expected. My Asian journey is a fascinating one; I hope you enjoy it too.
This book covered zoo behavior, adventuring spirits, and the main cities of the Orient. I followed the birth of recent pandas in Washington, DC, and San Diego. That is why I first read the book. I am so glad to fill in my knowledge of early twentieth century Asia. Happy reading!
Booklist
*Starred Review* It was once a story that every school kid knew. Ruth Harkness, a dress-designing socialite, following a trip laid out by her dead husband, captured the first giant panda to ever be seen in the West. Little Su-Lin, as the infant panda was named, made the front page of the Chicago Tribune for nine days straight after he was placed on display at Brookfield Zoo. Croke discovered the story while researching zoos and became fascinated by the adventure. Harkness' husband, Bill, died in China while on an expedition to capture the first live panda. The grieving Ruth, in a spirit of kinship with her husband, decided that the best homage to his memory was to finish what he had started. The moment when the expedition discovered the infant Su-Lin, bolstered by the fact that they kept him alive, made history. Croke has created an exciting tale, full of the color and spectacle of a lost, exotic era and place. She was given access to Harkness' letters to her closest friend, and the detail she gleaned from this correspondence gives such intimacy to the text that it simply pulls the reader in. Harkness was a mass of contrasts: sophisticated city dweller and earthy lover of remote places, hard-drinking libertine, and devoted nurturer of infant pandas (yes, she went back and got more), and Croke evokes her character in an evenhanded style that makes her three-dimensional. Complete with period photographs.
Publisher’s Weekly
Starred Review. During the Great Depression, inexpensive entertainment could be had at any city zoo. The exploits of the utterly macho men who bagged the beasts also made good adventure-film fodder. Yet one of the most famous animals ever brought to America—the giant panda—was captured by a woman, Ruth Harkness. Vicki Constantine Croke, the "Animal Beat" columnist for the Boston Globe, became fascinated by bohemian socialite Harkness, who was left alone and in difficult financial straits in 1936 after her husband died trying to bring a giant panda back from China. Instead of mourning, Harkness took on the mission. Arriving in Hong Kong with "a whiskey soda in one hand and a Chesterfield in the other," she soon found herself up against ruthless competitors, bandits, foul weather and warfare. Luckily, she was accompanied by the handsome and capable Quentin Young, her Chinese guide and eventual lover. This gripping book retraces their steps through the isolated and rugged wilderness where pandas hide, and then back to America, where the strange bears took the West by storm. Despite her remarkable journey, Harkness was derided and ignored by male adventurers. In dusting off this exciting tale, Constantine Croke (The Modern Ark: Zoos Past, Present and Future) returns Harkness to her rightful place in the top rank of zoological explorers.
Bookmarks Magazine
Following the publication of her article on Harkness in The Washington Post, Croke discovered hundreds of letters from Harkness’s trip to China. Armed with this correspondence, as well as hours of new interviews conducted for the project, Croke, the "Animal Beat" writer for the Boston Globe and author of The Modern Ark (1997), has produced this well-researched, well-written tale. The Lady and the Panda succeeds as a grand adventure and celebration of an overlooked independent woman whom Croke describes as "part Myrna Loy, part Jane Goodall." Critics tease out themes of early 20th-century gender and culture issues as well as a cautionary tale about the hazards of exploration for endangered species. Only some complaints of overly purple prose mar the generally positive embrace of Croke’s exotic story.
BETH’S COMMENTS:
This continues an Asian theme of books I have been reading; often facts on different time periods are filled in with the various books I have read. I did not realize I had recently concentrated on one area of the world, but after Nepal, perhaps it is to be expected. My Asian journey is a fascinating one; I hope you enjoy it too.
This book covered zoo behavior, adventuring spirits, and the main cities of the Orient. I followed the birth of recent pandas in Washington, DC, and San Diego. That is why I first read the book. I am so glad to fill in my knowledge of early twentieth century Asia. Happy reading!
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