JFW at the Brookfield Zoo
I’ll be giving a lecture on ivory and elephants and doing a booksigning at the Brookfield Zoo this coming Tuesday evening as part of their Fall Lecture Series:
“Ivory’s Ghosts”
John Frederick Walker
Tuesday, September 21
“Author Walker spent five years researching the story of ivory’s enormous impact on its most important source–African elephants–and on human history. Today, the question of what to do with growing stockpiles of legitimate ivory from elephants that die of natural causes is at the heart of an ongoing international debate. Join Walker for an exploration of “white gold”–and the future of elephants.”
The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in Brookfield Zoo’s Discovery Center.
For more information, please visit
http://www.czs.org/czs/Brookfield-Zoo/Events/Fall-Lecture-Series.aspx
JFW’s Ivory’s Ghosts Harvard Lecture on WGBH
My well-attended lecture at the Harvard Museum of Natural History this past January was recorded by WGBH in Boston, and is now on their website as part of their Forum Network.
The Kilimanjaro Tusks, 1898
The presentation includes a series of images of ivory art, the African commerce in tusks, and of course elephants, and touches on as many of the book’s themes as can be squeezed into an hour. A Q&A segment follows. Click here to view the lecture.
Ivory’s Ghosts reviewed in Audubon magazine
The May-June issue of Audubon magazine includes Ivory’s Ghosts in its “Editors’ Choice” section, with a review by Alexa Schirtzinger. She writes “With elephants, Walker explains over the course of his carefully wrought book, the classic collision between human life and wildlife has a unique dimension: the ancient and quasi-mystical relationship between people and ivory.” Read the complete review here (scroll down the page).
Ivory’s Ghosts reviewed in Foreign Affairs magazine
The May/June Foreign Affairs has a review of Ivory’s Ghosts by Nicolas van de Walle. “Walker’s well-written and informative book tells the story [of] man’s fascination with ivory, from prehistoric amulets to the massive global trade in the nineteenth century and discusses the impact of the international ban on the ivory trade that has been in effect since 1990.” Read the complete review here.
Ivory’s Ghosts reviewed in Natural History
Laurence Marschall has a review of Ivory’s Ghosts in the April, 2009 issue of Natural History, calling it “a sensitive and insightful analysis.” He goes on to say that “Walker sees the future of elephants not in an absolute ban on all ivory, but in a system of sustainable harvesting and wildlife management. It’s a difficult balancing act, but ivory, he proposes, can transcend its bloody past ‘long stained with the slaughter of elephant herds and human misery’ to become a self-renewing resource which can fund national parks, stabilize local economies, and preserve the creatures that make it.”
Ivory’s Ghosts reviewed in Huffington Post, Bloomberg
Georgianne Nienaber has an in-depth review of Ivory’s Ghosts on Huffington Post, calling it “a tour de force examination of the history of ivory,” that “reads like a novel. ” She adds, “Read Ivory’s Ghosts if you have any affinity for the history and future of this magnificent animal that has been sacrificed over the ages for what amounts to the white gold of its teeth.”
In his Bloomberg review, Leon Lazaroff calls Ivory’s Ghosts an “entertaining chronicle…that admirably tells the story of this enchanting substance, while making it clear that ‘as long as there are there are elephants, there will be ivory. Now, surely, it is ivory’s turn to help insure that there will always be elephants.'”
JFW on book tour, Part II
I gave a lecture on Ivory’s Ghosts at the Field Museum in Chicago on February 7, and will return to the Chicago area next week to start off the second leg of my national book tour:
EVANSTON, IL
February 16, 2009, 4 pm
Program of African Studies
Northwestern University
620 Library Place
SAN DIEGO, CA
February 18, 2009, 7 pm
San Diego Zoo
2920 Zoo Drive
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
February 19, 2009, 2 pm & 7 pm
California Academy of Sciences
Golden Gate Park
KEENE, NH
March 6, 2009, 11:30 am
Antioch University New England
40 Avon Street
JFW on National Public Radio
I was interviewed about Ivory’s Ghosts on the Faith Middleton Show on Connecticut Public Radio. The hour-long show was aired on January 22, 2009.
Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo, also interviewed me for his program, Field Notes, on WVXU. The 13-minute show was aired January 18, 2009.
John Frederick Walker 
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