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A surprising detour from the horrors of war | Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo | Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence

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	• Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence Thomas Dunne Books, 2007 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Solemn Glimpse of the Nature of Humanity and our Tendency towards Destruction

After reading the graphic novel "Pride of Baghdad," I was very interested in what happened to the zoo in Baghdad, so I tracked down this book by Lawrence Anthony.

From this book I learned a lot about what it was/is like in Iraq from an outsider's perspective at the heart of Baghdad just after the invasion - the hardships, violence, lack of sanitation, futility, and destruction. This one man's battle to save the remaining animals that were not stolen or killed in the zoo is an amazing documentation of courage, compassion, and determination. Lawrence Anthony has a big heart and an impressive amount of "liver," so to speak. ;)

I was struck by many things in this book - first the quick degradation of humanity in a situation where law and order has gone out the window. So many people rely on the innate good nature of mankind to somehow overcome and make our own peace, yet as soon as the police and established enforcement were gone in Baghdad, theft and vandalism took over. Left to our own devices, we are a sick sad species, bent on taking for ourselves at the expense of others. If you think your country would do anything less once the law was dispelled, you are mistaken. It makes me think of all the riots that have taken place in U.S. history. The inclination of the majority is to pillage and loot rather than organize and construct. It's no wonder the world is being increasingly destroyed. We are innately screwed up.

This book also showed me the hopeful side of humanity though - those willing to take a stand and brave the odds to bring order and safety back. Those courageous Iraqis who worked so hard alongside Anthony were an inspiration and an honorable representation of the human race. The risks all of them took to help the helpless should be lauded by everyone as an act of the utmost heroism.

There is so much frustration in this book - difficult to read at times as you experience yourself the sinking hope and exhaustion those few stubborn men (and women). But through it all they endure and ultimately succeed in their efforts.

I liked this book because of the insight into both the lightness and the darkness of humanity, as well as tangibly real descriptions of situations that make it easy to imagine you're there. Anthony also keeps things interesting by interjecting little snippets of his own history and other people's experiences into the flow of things.

The ending turns into a big lecture on global warming and the destruction of the planet, but I guess that's to be expected. And really, even if you are reluctant to run after the green bandwagon, you cannot deny that our planet does need our help. If not the weather (which it may very well be too difficult to change) the life we are continuing to mow down and extinguish (often permanently). We may like to think that this world is too big for measly old us to make a dent in, but that same logic is what made the bison and passenger pigeons go from populations of millions to extinction (or the verge of it for the bison).
It is important also, however, not to forget that people should not be ignored as we try to improve things. Just like Lawrence has to make sure the Iraqi workers were fed first, we should not put such a priority on ecological improvements that the poor and desperately starving are trampled or further impoverished by those efforts. There has to be a balance of compassion.

Thanks, Anthony Lawrence, for passing on your experience to the rest of us. I hope everyone who reads your writings learns as much if not more than I did, and takes inspiration from your kind and peace-making attitude.

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ways to share our earth with the animals

Great! a gripping account of how one man spearheaded a rescue attempt on the Baghdad zoo. Well written. Amazing what can be done when the passion and the will to do come together in a man who loved animals and who understood what it took to make a zoo happen in spite of a violent war being fought on all sides.

A surprising detour from the horrors of war

The enthusiasm that Anthony, a South African conservationist, invests to care for an abandoned zoo thankfully makes up for the writing. He pairs with Iragi zookeepers and U.S. soldiers--who defy orders to deliver necessary supplies--to treat neglected animals helpless against war and looting. In the process, he exposes shady characters and conditions of an emerging black market for exotic pets. Details about Uday's vast exotic "pet" collection will both fascinate and repulse.

Babylon's Ark reminds that ordinary people do extraordinary things. And that war can unite divided camps, despite who is shooting and stealing. A surprisingly positive detour from the horrors of war.

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Inspiring, how courageous individuals can make a difference

I had heard about this story and it seemed almost impossible that anyone would be brave enough to do what this man did - go to Iraq in the middle of the war to save the animals of the Baghdad zoo. I found this book at my local library and read it almost in one sitting - it's a good read, well-written, but it's the story itself that is amazing. The book tells the story in vivid detail, a sadder, scarier and more horrifying story than I had imagined, yet told with some humor, and with many examples of how the decency and courage of individuals does make a difference. Here's an average guy - just like you and me - ok, maybe not all of us run nature preserves in Africa - but still, not a soldier, not a person trained to survive in the chaos of war. He arrives in this chaos, recognizes it's worse than he had imagined, but instead of saying "big mistake, I'm getting out of here," he draws that line in the sand: "I'm here, I committed myself, I'm going to do something about it." And then carries through. If this were a movie, I'd be applauding.

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Hits the mark

Anthony, a South African elephant conservationist, was appalled when he heard that the animals at the Kabul zoo were killed in the war in Afghanistan. When the war in Iraq started, he decided to go to Baghdad and help save the animals at the Baghdad zoo from the same fate. Anthony got a real education walking into a war zone and finding the zoo completely looted and all but 30 of the creatures dead or missing. Slowly, and with the help of brave Iraqi vets and zookeepers, concerned American soldiers, and one crazy taxi driver, Anthony helped lead the zoo's recovery into a safe place for the animals and a haven of normalcy for Baghdad families.

If a story like this is competently told, it really can't miss, and this one hits the mark. Anthony has many interesting things to say, good stories, and the right combination of indignation and MASH-style humor.
The last chapter bogs down in hopeless idealism about international cooperation (IMHO), but this book will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the topic or the experiences of an ordinary civilian trying to get something done in a war zone.

Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis and Clark.

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When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, located in the city center and caught in the war's crossfire. Once Anthony entered Baghdad he discovered that full-scale combat and uncontrolled looting had killed nearly all the animals of the zoo. But not all of them. U.S. soldiers had taken the time to help care for the remaining animals, and the zoo's staff had returned to work in spite of the constant firefights. Together the Americans and Iraqis had managed to keep alive the animals that had survived the invasion.Babylon's Ark chronicles the zoo's transformation from bombed-out rubble to peaceful park. Along the way, Anthony recounts hair-raising efforts to save a pride of the dictator's lions, close a deplorable black-market zoo, and rescue Saddam's Arabian horses. His unique ground-level experience makes Babylon's Ark an uplifting story of both sides working together for the sake of innocent animals caught in the war's crossfire.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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