Locust

This book tells the story of America's most extraordinary insect, brilliantly recounted by the scientist who solved the mystery of its extinction. Throughout the nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the continent, turning noon into dusk, devastating farms, and bringing trains to a halt as the crushed bodies of insects greased the rails. In 1876, the U.S. Congress declared the locust "the single greatest impediment to the settlement of the country." In this surprising and original book, Pushcart Prize winner Jeffrey Lockwood sets out to tell the story of an insect, and in so doing, tells the story of a nation. From the Dakotas to Texas, from California to Iowa, locust swarms destroyed billions of dollars in crops, pushing thousands of settlers to the brink of starvation. Long seen as a form of divine punishment, the locust outbreaks forced the federal government to confront impossible questions: Were the farmers unfortunate victims or were they morally weak? What would the role of charity and welfare be in the new nation? Could science alone solve such an enormous problem? The plague of locusts finally prompted the government to establish a commission that brought together some of the greatest scientific minds of the day -- the first time science was called upon to address a national crisis. With its powerful egos and fiery conflicts, the commission jumpstarted the fledgling field of entomology, launching a golden era of discovery. Over the next few decades, the Rocky Mountain locust suddenly and mysteriously vanished. A century later, Jeffrey Lockwood set out to discover why. Unconvinced by the reigning theories, he searched for new evidence in musty books, crumbling maps, and crevassed glaciers, eventually piecing together the elusive answer. Drawing on historical accounts and modern science, Lockwood brings to life the economic, religious, and political forces at work in America in the late-nineteenth century, even as he solves one of the greatest ecological mysteries of our time. In the process, he offers a startling new prism through which to view American history and the settlement of the West. - Jacket flap.