Description:
Shortlisted for the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize
A Bloomberg, Economist, Waterstones, and Times Literary Supplement Best Book of 2024
"Vivid with a Mesozoic bestiary" (Tom Holland), this on-the-ground, page-turning narrative weaves together the chance discovery of dinosaurs and the rise of the secular age.
Brief description: Michael Taylor is an intellectual and political historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. His work has been shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize. He lives in Manchester, England.
Review Quotes: [Impossible Monsters is] a remarkable look at how sweeping social changes can come from strange and small beginnings. Anyone who thinks that the culture wars of contemporary times are being fought with unprecedented ferocity should take a look at this book. . . . Taylor ably conveys the ferment of the time, and he does so with respect to all concerned. This is an intriguing and accessible book, featuring many useful insights into how one age ended and another began. . . . With careful research, Taylor unravels how the discovery of the past pointed the way toward a new future.-- "Kirkus Reviews"