The Bonehunters' Revenge: Dinosaurs, Greed, and the Greatest Scientific Feud of the Gilded AgeWhen dinosaur fossils were first discovered in the Wild West, they sparked one of the greatest scientific battles in American history. Over the past century it has been known by many names -- the Bone War, the Fossil Feud -- but the tragic story of the competition for fame and natural treasure between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two leading paleontologists of the Gilded Age, remains prophetic of the conquest of the West as well as a watershed event in science. With a historian's eye and a novelist's skill, David Rains Wallace charts in fascinating detail the unrestrained rivalry between Cope and Marsh and their obsession to become the first to make available to the world the abundant, unknown fossils of the western badlands. This story will surely fascinate anyone who has had to confront the myriad facets of professional jealousy, its sterile brooding, and how it leads to an emotional abyss. |
Contents
Assassination by Newspaper | 1 |
Prodigy and Heir | 11 |
Stepchild and Laggard | 23 |
Fair Prospects in Dirt | 32 |
Professor Marshs Traveling Bone and Pony Show | 46 |
The Lone Philadelphian | 67 |
Babel at Fort Bridger | 77 |
Marsh the Reformer | 92 |
Behind the Arras | 192 |
Cope Strikes | 209 |
The Herald Steams Ahead | 226 |
Marsh Strikes Back | 238 |
The Herald Steams Away | 247 |
Symmetries and Ironies | 255 |
Death | 269 |
The Skeleton Drummer | 287 |
Cope the Explorer | 112 |
Huxley Anoints Marsh | 131 |
Dinosaurs and Fate | 143 |
An Inside Job | 167 |
The Slippery Slope | 178 |
Squabblers on a Raft | 298 |
Notes | 310 |
| 340 | |
| 348 | |
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Common terms and phrases
American Naturalist animal attack badlands Ballou Bennett Bluff bone war bonehunting bones Bridger called Charles Marsh Papers collection collectors Como Bluff Cope and Marsh Cope's Cretaceous dinosaur discoveries editorial Edward Edward Cope Eocene evidence evolutionary expedition exploration feud Fort Bridger fossils Frazer Geological Survey giant Gould Haven Hayden Henry Fairfield Osborn horse Huxley Ibid Idem Indian Jane Pierce January January 13 Joseph Leidy Kansas Laelaps Lakes Lanham later Leidy's less letter living mammals Master Naturalist Museum named National Academy natural history newspaper O. C. Marsh Osborn Othniel Charles Marsh paleontologist Peabody Philadelphia Powell Powell's Professor Cope Professor Marsh Psihoyos pterodactyl published Red Cloud reported reptiles River saurians sauropod Schuchert and LeVene scientific scientists Scott seemed skeleton skull species specimens Stegner Sternberg story Tertiary tion told took Tribune trip uintatheres vertebrate West Williston wrote to Annie Yale York Herald