“Consider the pigeon. Rather not? Well, reconsider, and do yourself a favor by reading Blechman’s charming book. . . . Blechman wittily traces the history of this gentle, intelligent, misunderstood bird . . . and journeys into its obsessive subcultures.” —Matthew Price, The New York Times Book Review
“[Blechman’s] playful exploration of what some city-dwellers refer to as ‘rats with wings’ takes him to some surprising places . . . [and] along the way, he meets a colorful array of pigeon haters, hobbyists, and saviors. . . The book brims with trivia about the importance of pigeons throughout history—as wartime messengers and news distributors, among other roles. It’s almost enough to make you want to go to a park and feed them.” —Nora Krug, The Washington Post
“Consider the pigeon. Rather not? Well, reconsider, and do yourself a favor by reading Blechman’s charming book.” —New York Times Book Review
“We tend to think of them as a ubiquitous urban nuisance, like animate Dunkin’ Donuts litter. But Andrew D. Blechman, bless his quirky heart, looks at pigeons . . . and sees a thing of beauty. . . . In this entertainingly quixotic study [pigeons] have been fortunate in their choice of an advocate.” —Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe
“Enjoyable and informative book”while Blechman’s book won’t convert pigeon haters to pigeon lovers, it does make for entertaining reading.” —Publishers Weekly
“Blechman’s well-reported findings will leave you better informed about pigeons and the multilayered culture that results.” —Paul Burkhardt, The Salt Lake Tribune
“Andrew D. Blechman delves into the eccentric, and often gritty, worlds of those who breed, race, and shoot pigeons and discovers that even urban pests have remarkable stories to tell.” —Sierra
“Blechman has provided a richly instructive and delightful panorama of our diverse relations with a bird that, while not everyone’s pigeon, is certainly the fancy of many.” —Samuel McCracken, Columbia Magazine
“We learn that pigeons come in an intriguing variety of colors and shapes. They are monogamous, loyal, fast as the wind, and extremely tasty. In short, they lead more constructive lives than many humans, and in this entertainingly quixotic study they have been fortunate in their choice of an advocate.” —Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe
“Blechman is a talented observer and a light-on-his feet writer. He deftly carves the interesting from the extraneous . . . this is as intimate a profile of pigeons as you’ll ever read.” —John Wilkens, The San Diego Union-Tribune
“If ever there was a creature that was due a revisionist assessment, it is the pigeon. Andrew Blechman’s wonderful book gives the lowly bird its due, but along the way reveals as much about humans—with our bizarre, sometimes obsessive love-hate relationship to this most enduring of birds—as the pigeons themselves. In so doing, he has written one of those rare and magical books that cause the reader to see the world differently. Read Pigeons and you’ll never look at Trafalgar Square, the Piazza San Marco or Bryant Park the same way again.” —Warren St. John, author of Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip Into the Heart of Fan Mania
“Few of us who live in cities, besieged by flights of what we like to call winged rats, can rightly be described as philoperisterons. But King George the Fifth of England was. So was Charles Darwin. Julius Reuter was too, though for purely commercial reasons. And so also, and for which we should all be thankful, is Andrew Blechman, writer. Mr. Blechman positively loves pigeons-but as graceful and ancient grey doves, not as either targets or as food. In this breezy, quirky, endlessly entertaining book, he tells us just why-and explains why philoperisteronicism is, generally speaking, a Good Thing.” —Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and The Madman
“I’ve been as guilty as anybody of looking down on the lowly Rock Dove. But Andrew Blechman’s Pigeons woke me up. Informative and well-written, if anybody can read his book and still harbor contempt for pigeons, I have to wonder if there is hope for human beings.” —Mark Bittner, author of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
“Andrew Blechman’s writing is graceful and swift like his subject. The ubiquitous pigeon, whose image spans the lows and highs of human imagination, finds a superb chronicler, exegete, partisan, and redeemer in this book. . . . This book proves, once again, that magic is near at hand, that it can feed from our hands, and that there are mottled angels in our midst. Read Pigeons—it’s marvelous.” —Andrei Codrescu, author of New Orleans, Mon Amour & commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered
“You can love them or hate them, and even shoot, feed, race, or eat them, but if you ever ignore pigeons as a major natural force, you will surely be splattered upon. After trailing these remarkable creatures from the rooftops of Queens to the castle of a queen, Andrew Blechman has bagged a story that is fun, warm, and full of wonder.” —Mark Obmascik, author of The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
“Consistently engaging and surprising . . . Pigeons manages to illuminate not merely the ostensible subject of the book, but also something of the endearing, repellent, heroic and dastardly nature of that most bizarre of breeds, Homo sapiens.” —Ben Cosgrove, Salon.com
“An enjoyable read.” —Library Journal
“A great read and lots of fun.” —Time.com
“[An] engaging journey into pigeondom.” —Florence Williams, On Earth
“A witty, wondrous, you-are-there trip ” This is the kind of non-fiction book I love best: one that takes an entirely bizarro subject matter, immerses itself into the world, and has a shitload of fun doing it.” —Rod Lott, Bookgasm.com
Grove Press
