Red Coats and Wild Birds

“Through its examination of the influence of bird watching on military science and soldiers' contributions to ornithology, Red Coats and Wild Birds remaps empire, nature, and scientific inquiry in the nineteenth-century world. . . . [this] impressively informative and groundbreaking history . . . is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college and university library British Military History collections and supplemental curriculum studies.”—Midwest Book Review

“A powerful affirmation for the value of 'critical historical geography' (p.107), and how such work demonstrates the need to deconstruct the colonial imaginaries that continue to circulate within natural history and conservation debates today.”—Journal of Historical Geography

“Red Coats and Wild Birds is a fascinating study by a scholar whose work will undoubtedly influence our perceptions of the British Empire.”—Journal of British Studies

“Thoroughly researched and steeped in theories of knowledge and surveillance. . . . [A] cohesive and compelling narrative.”—H-War

“Red Coats and Wild Birds is innovative, well researched, and well written. There is simply nothing like this book.” — Nancy Jacobs, Brown University

“An inventive and attractive work, this book documents the ways in which the study of ornithology and bird collecting intersected with — and contributed to — British military and imperial endeavors in the Mediterranean region at the height of empire.” — Janet Browne, Harvard University