Letters From Alabama

by Philip Henry Gosse

"Anyone interested in the rural south in the first half of the 19th century, particularly Alabama, would be fascinated by this book. The comments of an early natualist, steamboat travel, family life, hunting, and his reaction to slavery are priceless. If you were interested enough to read this review you need to read this book." - Amazon Reviewer

"Extremely interesting book. Why haven't I heard of this one before?
Fascinating look into the natural history of the ante-bellum South. His observations of extinct species like the Carolina Parakeet, Ivory-billed woodpecker, & Chestnut tree are priceless." - Amazon Reviewer

Genres: History, Nonfiction

326 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1983

About the author

Philip Henry Gosse FRS (/ɡɒs/; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of marine biology. Gosse created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and coined the term "aquarium" when he published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea, in 1854. His work was the catalyst for an aquarium craze in early Victorian England.

Gosse was also the author of Omphalos, an attempt to reconcile the geological ages presupposed by Charles Lyell with the biblical account of creation. After his death, Gosse was portrayed as an overbearing father of uncompromising religious views in Father and Son (1907), a memoir written by his son, Edmund Gosse, a poet and critic, though the son's description of Gosse has since been described as having included "error, distortion...unwarranted claims, misrepresentation" and "abuse of the written record".

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great book describing the flora and fauna of Alabama in the early 1800's. The kindle version however, had various typographical errors on just about every page.