[.ca] The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope ... (ISBN 0609807056)

From Amazon.com:
Feuds are common to all fields of human endeavor, but only scientists see them as integral to their work. Scientific progress is always contentious, as we are reminded by science writer Mark Jaffe in The Gilded Dinosaur, his delightful examination of the well-known war between paleontologists Edward Cope and O.C. Marsh in the context of the development of American science. Jaffe has delved deeply into the historical record to illuminate these large personalities and their struggle for access to physical and political territory on which to build their competing scientific empires. Fossil-hunting was inextricably linked with the expansion into the West, the explosion of industrial capitalism, and the new expression of America's status as a world power. Cope and Marsh, in part through their competition for scarce financial and scientific resources, forced the United States to build a scientific establishment combining elements of the public and private sectors. Jaffe is careful with his details; though there are many of them, they always illustrate his themes and portraits rather than distracting from them. Instead of reproducing the legendary protracted newspaper battle in its entirety, he samples a few headlines and paragraphs, then explores the motives and reactions of the principals. Cope comes across as far more sympathetic than Marsh, but the reader is left with the sense that this reflects historical truth more than journalistic bias. How can you take two egos, thousands of tons of rocks and bones, and make a scientific infrastructure so sturdy that today's schoolchildren grow up with Apatasaurus? The Gilded Dinosaur explains it all. --Rob Lightner

There's nothing like a good rivalry:
The heart of the book is the war of words between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh. These two men were the top paleontologists of their day and were among the first scientists to do serious scientific studies in the American West, they also hated each other. The accouts of their expiditions in the 1860's and 1870 are as exciting as any western. One of the expiditions was working in the little Big Horn area at the time of Custer's last stand. At that time Paleontology was the hot new science, the way cloning and genetics aretoday. Darwin's theory of evolution had only recently published. America was trying to recover forn the Civil War. A large part of the American identity was wrapped up in the West. The fantastic fossils that were being found there were something America had that Europe did not and therefor important to the American public. In addition to enduring the hardship of field collecting Cope, Marsh, and their contemporaies were inventing modern science as we know it. They also were building the univerities and museums, (Yale, Harvard, The Smithsonian) that would become the breeding grounds for the educated scientific community in America. Jaffe has a sort of 'Ken Burnes" style with lots of excerpts from letters that really makes the material come alive. I'd say anyone who has more than a passing interest in paleontology would enjoy this book, but so would any one who is interested in the history of American Science.

No Bones About It!:
Mark Jaffe has succeeded in bringing the fascinating and richly historical world of paleontology to life in this novel about Edward. D. Cope and O.C. Marsh. One does not have to be a dinosaur nut to appreciate the thoughtful and entertaining way Mr.Jaffe describes the awakening world of paleontology and scientic research in late nineteenth century America. Although I am a student of earth science and anthropology and I am quite familiar with the flora, fauna and geologic descriptions flowing out of "The Gilded Dinosaur", I still appreciated the way the author told the story; I was not bored. He described the war between Cope and Marsh impartially and with descriptive vigor, but he also added enough scientific dialogue that it kept my scientific curiosity piqued. Any casual paleontology, political or history buff will enjoy the way the story flows;it is sometimes sad, sometimes humorous, but always fascinating.This book is a must for any Jurassic junky, political history or science fan to read. Enjoy!

Interesting Story Bogged Down by Superfluous Details:
Not a bad book--and certainly the material's exciting. The best past was at the beginning, when both men were working the field every year. My main problem was the weight the author gave to different parts of the story. For example, he states almost casually that it was Marsh who made the "biggest palentological error in history" by putting the wrong head on the Brontosaurus, causing the Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus confusion, but never gets back to who figured out the error. He gives a disporportionate amount of weight to parts of the story that just weren't as important, such as Cope's financial problems and the silver mines. Also-I do have a sneaking admiration for Marsh--he may not have been writing touching letter to his daughter, as Cope did, but he did much more to promote fair treatment of the Indians, etc. As I said, not bad, but still not the definitive book.

Grammar cost it a star, but very good otherwise:
I found this book to be very well researched and interesting, but unfortunately somewhat poorly written. There are many grammatical errors and typos that should have been caught by the editors but weren't, which made me feel like I was reading a rough draft. Other than that annoying flaw, it's well worth reading.

Disappointing, but not without merit.:
Mark Jaffe's account of the infamous feud between Cope and Marsh is neither as well written nor as well researched as D. R. Wallace's book on the same subject (The Bonehunter's Revenge). But it is a fairly enjoyable read and paints a reasonably accurate and lively portrait of vertebrate paleontology (and the life of paleontologists) during the second half of the 19th century.