Amazon.com
Zarafa was a gentle 19th-century giraffe, a simple animal whose life was dictated by the tumultuous times around her. From the African savanna where she was caught and tamed as an infant, Zarafa was shipped down the Nile--along with the meat of her mother and several hundred human slaves--to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. From there she sailed on to France, a gift from Muhammad Ali, the "Renaissance Barbarian" viceroy of Egypt, intended to distract King Charles X while Egyptian forces invaded Greece. As political ploy, it didn't work. But as ambassador from an exotic land, this odd animal captivated the French people for almost two decades, as she lived out her life as part of the royal menagerie.
Michael Allin intertwines natural history with a brutal chapter in the history of civilization, augmenting the clarity of both. This story of one docile animal contrasts sharply with those of the human profiteers, warmongers, and interlopers who ultimately decide her fate. But Zarafa's otherworldly charm also helps us to understand the intrigue that led Napoleon to bring not only his troops, but a small army of European intellectuals to study all aspects of Egyptian culture and history, in the invasion that sets up her story. --Lauran Cole Warner
From Publishers Weekly
The baby giraffe was captured in the highlands of Ethiopia and taken to Khartoum. She sailed down the Nile to Alexandria and across the Mediterranean to Marseilles, where she wintered. In April 1827, Zarafa started a 550-mile walk to Paris. She was accompanied by her Nubian handler, three milk cows, two Mouflon sheep, an antelope and one of the foremost scientists of the time, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire. Zarafa was a gift to Charles X from the Ottoman viceroy to Egypt, Muhammad Ali, who wanted to forge a link with France. The gift was masterminded by Bernardino Dravetti, French consul, personal adviser to the viceroy and the first wholesale tomb robber of modern Egyptology. After 41 days on the road, Zarafa and her party arrived to a triumphant welcome in Paris, where she remained a star at the Jardin des Plantes for the next 18 years. In his first book, Allin spins an enchanting story of Zarafa's journey through the Gallic countryside?the first giraffe in France drew crowds everywhere (30,000 in Lyons). To place the animal's odyssey in perspective, he provides a richly textured background of historical detail, starting with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 and his "corps des savants," who were stranded there for three years. This endearing work will appeal to all animal lovers, and also to those interested in the confluences of natural and human history. Thirty drawings, maps and images not seen by PW. BOMC, QPB and History Book Club selections; author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In 1826, Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, sent a giraffe to King Charles X of France. The giraffe, born in the Sudan, had to be transported 3500 miles down the Nile, across the Mediterranean, and from the port of Marseilles to Paris. There she caused a sensation and then lived for 18 years in Le Jardin des Plantes. Allin fleshes out this episode, tracing the route taken by the giraffe (whom he dubs Zarafa, the Arabic name for giraffe) and providing brief biographies of such notables as Ali; Bernardino Drovetti, the French consul in Egypt; and 'Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the founder of the Paris zoo. The first half of the book, concerning the French adventures in Africa, is the most interesting, whereas the long section minutely detailing Zarafa's trek across France seems a bit like overkill. While not an essential purchase, this first book by a former screenwriter provides a glimpse of a time period not commonly written about and would be worth considering for historical or history of science collections.?Beth Clewis Crim, Prince William P.L., VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Carolyn T. Hughes
Michael Allin does a terrific job of chronicling the giraffe's remarkable pilgrimage from Egypt to Paris...
The Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Susan Salter Reynolds
The book is a collage of gorgeous facts, a parade of facts joined together by a mysterious animal and a lively, curious writer.
The Washington Post Book World, Leo Carey
[Allin's] book ... not only rescues a charming anecdote from obscurity but also makes a convincing case for its importance in the world of 19th-century Mediterranean diplomacy.
From Kirkus Reviews
In 1827, a giraffe sailed from Egypt to Marseille. It then walked to Paris. It was France's first giraffe, and this is Allin's first book. Both events are worthy of note, trailing surprise and pleasure in their wake. Allin tells the story of Zarafa, a giraffe sent to France's King Charles X by the viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali. Ali had recently invaded Greece, and Europe was angry at the move; Zarafa was meant to insinuate Ali into the king's favor by gracing the royal menagerie with an exotic. This all came about from a combination of circumstance and personality, both of which Allin ably delineates: the post-Napoleonic Egyptomania that gripped France; the cultured pirate Bernardino Drovetti, French consul general to Egypt, who trafficked in exotic animals and mummies; Ali himself, erstwhile Albanian mercenary, Francophile, up-from-nothing barbarian who consolidated his power from Nubia to Syria, and under whose reign ``Egypt went from the Stone Age to the Enlightenment''; Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, scientific wunderkind of the Institut de France. And, of course, there is the giraffe (Zarafa is the Arabic-derived name Allin gives the beast): her capture as a calf, her journey ``via camel, Nile felucca, seagoing brigantine, and her own four legs'' to Paris and celebrity, a monumental addition to the national cabinet de curiositis, an instant infatuation that generated vaudeville skits, hair styles, and the naming of a form of influenza in her honor. In the process, Allin gives readers glimpses of Napoleon's corps de savants; histories of Alexandria, Messina, the Ptolemies; a fine caricature of European bureaucratic maneuvering in the early 19th century; and, not least, a superb description of the sea's colors off Alexandria (Allin traced the route). Allin shares a talent seen in two other recent Walker books, Dava Sobel's Longitude and James deKay's Monitor: the ability to make an obscure subject incandescent through crisp storytelling and a felicitous handling of arcane details. (illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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