When I tell people they need to read this great book about rats they usually give me a look of revulsion. The ones that I can get to suspend their initial reaction have all been pleasantly surprised. Folks, this is one heck of a book. It is about rats but it's about so much more than that.
I learned a lot about the behavior of rats but I also learned how rat problems affected the civil rights movement and about a Revolutionary War Son of Liberty that seems to have been forgotten by mainstream history. Sullivan covers the plague, both the outbreak that everyone knows about and the one in San Francisco that you've never heard of.
The author observed rats, mostly in one location in New York City, but in other places as well. He talked to exterminators, researchers, and regular people about their experiences with rats. If you have an interest in rats or in New York City history then you can't go wrong with this book.
I also just finished Sullivan's The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures on the Edge of a City and it was very informative as well. I look forward to checking out more of his books. He writes in kind of an offbeat fashion that gives you the facts that finds as well as the stories of the people that he learned them from.
Let me know what you think at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com, in comments, or on Twitter @jeffsbookcase.
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