The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing 600-Year History of the Royal Collection of Wild and Ferocious Beasts Kept at the Tower of London
By Daniel Hahn
Daniel Hahn tells the six-hundred-year history of the royal menagerie at the Tower of London, beginning in 1235, when the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II sent Henry III three leopards. Other arrivals included a white bear from Norway in 1252, allowed to fish in the Thames, and an elephant from France in 1255, alongside lions and other beasts that drew visitors for centuries. The collection closed in the 1830s, when its remaining animals were sold or sent to the zoological gardens in Regent's Park.
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- Ryan Holiday: “An example of an author ruining an otherwise fascinating book by interrupting themselves with too many footnotes, parentheses and tangents. Aspiring writers will learn more from the style mistakes than the subject matter. That aside, The Tower Menagerie is illustrative and entertaining.”