A comprehensive, humane, and bemused tour of the dog-human relationship, Dog's Best Friend combines anecdote, research, and reportage to illuminate our complex rapport with our cherished canine companions. Tracking our national obsession with an animal that now outnumbers children in American households, Mark Derr chronicles the evolution of "the culture of the dog" from the prehistoric domestication of tamed wolves to the modern horrors of overbreeding and inbreeding. Passionate about his subject and intent on sharing his zeal, Derr defends dogs with wit and flare, producing here a quirky, informative, and fitting tribute to our love affair with canines big and small.

Dog's Best Friend: Annals of the Dog-Human Relationship

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Derr, Mark

Pets & Animal Care

University of Chicago Press

Wherever humans have gone in the New World, dogs have been their companions, from the time people crossed the Bering Land Bridge some twenty thousand years ago. In this remarkable history of the interaction between humans and dogs, Mark Derr looks at the ways in which we have used canines-as sled dogs and sheepdogs, hounds and Seeing Eye dogs, guard dogs, show dogs, and bomb-sniffing dogs-as he tracks changes in American culture and society. From the Spanish conquest of the Americas to the English colonial period, from the age of revolution to slavery, from World War II to the Vietnam War, Derr weaves a remarkable tapestry of heroism, betrayal, tragedy, kindness, abuse, and unique companionship. The result is an enlightening perspective on American history through the eyes of humanity's best friend.

A Dog's History of America: How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered, and Settled a Continent

History

Americas

NORTH POINT PRESS

Traces the history of Florida, emphasizing the period between Reconstruction and the Depression, illuminating the environmental and social changes of our southernmost state

Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida

Business & Money

Economics

William Morrow & Co.

The Frontiersman: The Real Life and the Many Legends of Davy Crockett

Debunks commonly held myths about Crockett, depicting him as an impoverished farmer and a rustic member of the House of Representatives who incurred the wrath of President Jackson

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Now in paperback, here is a definitive biography of an American hero. From Walt Disney's "King of the Wild Frontier" to the lying drunkard portrayed by revisionist historians, Davy Crockett has been interpreted and misinterpreted for more than a century. Mark Derr sifts through the historical documents to present the truth about the man and the myth.

Quill

A tribute to the special relationship that exists between canines and humans explores the cultural and historical aspects of the twenty-thousand-year-old bond and celebrates the many contributions of dogs throughout the ages

Henry Holt Co.

"The history of Florida is the story of North America in miniature. By telling it with such eloquence and learning in ‘Some Kind of Paradise,’ Mr. Derr has revealed the dark side of the historian Frederick Jackson Turner’s famous hypothesis: our national character was indeed shaped by the frontier. . . . [Derr] writes with a journalist’s eye for telling details and an antiquarian’s fondness for digression and quirky facts. . . . The state’s tortuous journey from one extreme to the other is [his] subject, and he tackles it with brilliance and bravado."―New York Times Book Review
 For 500 years, visitors to Florida have discovered magic. In Some Kind of Paradise, an eloquent social and environmental history of the state, Mark Derr describes how this exotic land is fast becoming a victim of its own allure. He begins by examining the period between Reconstruction and the Great Depression, when wealthy capitalists led by Henry Flagler and Henry Plant opened the peninsula to a flood of development by building railroads and luxury hotels. Turning to the distant past, he describes the geologic origins of the state and early fossil finds. From archaeological data, he stitches together a portrait of the first human inhabitants and their distinct cultures, then follows the thread of time to the "discovery" of Florida in 1513 by Juan Ponce de León, the fall of the indigenous people to European diseases and weapons, and the pattern of conquest and racial violence that continued into the 19th century as white Americans waged a campaign against the Seminole Indians. Derr keeps his gaze on the land and its people―wreckers and spongers in Key West, cowmen on the "palmetto prairie," speculators and builders from Miami Beach to Seaside, Cuban cigar makers who rolled tobacco while listening to readings from Shakespeare and Marx, and migrant fruit pickers, convict laborers, and the idle rich―the range of dreamers and schemers who have struggled to remake this abundant, fragile wonderland. Written with both tenderness and alarm, Derr’s book presents their competing views of Florida: a paradise to be protected and nurtured or a frontier to be exploited and conquered.

Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida (Florida Sand Dollar Books)

University Press of Florida

Grammar Strand, Book 4 : Grammar Series for Academic ESL Students

Derr, Melissa

Heinle & Heinle Publishers

Wherever humans have gone in the New World, dogs have been their companions, from the time people crossed the Bering Land Bridge some twenty thousand years ago. In this remarkable history of the interaction between humans and dogs, Mark Derr looks at the ways in which we have used canines-as sled dogs and sheepdogs, hounds and Seeing Eye dogs, guard dogs, show dogs, and bomb-sniffing dogs-as he tracks changes in American culture and society. From the Spanish conquest of the Americas to the English colonial period, from the age of revolution to slavery, from World War II to the Vietnam War, Derr weaves a remarkable tapestry of heroism, betrayal, tragedy, kindness, abuse, and unique companionship. The result is an enlightening perspective on American history through the eyes of humanity's best friend.

How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends

Tantor Audio

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Derr, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Derr, Mark

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Derr, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dog's Best Friend: Annals of the Dog-Human Relationship

A Dog's History of America: How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered, and Settled a Continent

Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida

The Frontiersman: The Real Life and the Many Legends of Davy Crockett

The Frontiersman: The Real Life and the Many Legends of Davy Crockett

Dog's Best Friend: Annals of the Dog-Human Relationship

Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida (Florida Sand Dollar Books)

Grammar Strand, Book 4 : Grammar Series for Academic ESL Students

A Dog's History of America: How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered, and Settled a Continent

How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends