Gracious God, what a jaw!
how many animals
have been crushed by it!

In the first decades of the American republic, the Founding Fathers made the mastodon a symbol of the new nation's conquering spirit. Long before dinosaurs were discovered, American patriots imagined this majestic Ice Age creature to be a ferocious carnivore that devoured buffalo, deer and elk.

The myth of the mastodon is the subject of Paul Semonin's American Monster, a lively non-fiction narrative that appeals to general readers and scholars alike.

From the discovery of a giant tooth on the banks of the Hudson River in 1705 to the exhumation of the first complete skeleton nearly a century later, the mystery of the mastodon unfolds like a detective story. By the time the great beast's identity is finally revealed, the Founding Fathers have made the animal a symbol of dominance in the new republic.

Called an "epic adventure story" by the Boston Globe, American Monster explores the religious beliefs, scientific ideas, political philosophy and Indian legends that led the Founding Fathers to create a natural history myth that still shapes the way we view prehistoric nature today.

As reviewers have noted, American Monster reveals the historical roots of our current fascination with monstrous carnivores. The author challenges the idea that there were "ruling species" in prehistoric nature, a common assumption today in both science and popular culture.

READ AMERICAN MONSTER

Discover the curious link
between patriotism and prehistoric nature

© 2003 Paul Semonin