Orlean, Susan

Examining animal-human relationships through stories she has written over the course of her career, the author celebrates the cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.

"Susan Orlean reopens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history, and delivers a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution--our libraries"--.

"Reopens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history, the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire, while exploring the . . . role that libraries play in modern American culture"--OCLC.

Journalist Susan Orlean profiles more than thirty-five individuals from all walks of life, such as an ordinary ten-year-old boy, celebrities including Tonya Harding, and unusual people such as the first woman matador in Spain, Cristina Sanchez.

A frustrated child wonders why babies must spend their days napping and babbling instead of getting jobs.

An examination of the life and legacy of Rin Tin Tin, an orphaned German shepherd that was found on a World War I battlefield in France, taken home to California by a soldier, and made into a movie star.

Describes the life and times of John Laroche, a plant smuggler and orchid thief, and the eccentric world of Florida's obsessed collectors of rare plants.

Chronicles the 1994 crime story of John Laroche, a plant dealer who teamed up with three Seminole Indians to steal rare orchids from a southern Florida swamp with the intention of having the orchids cloned to sell to collectors; examines the ramifications of the case, which concerned a wide variety of groups, including environmentalists, Native Americans, and orchid enthusiasts.