A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola

by John Frederick Walker

Overview

In A Certain Curve of Horn, veteran journalist John Frederick Walker tells the story of one of the most revered and endangered of the regal beasts of Africa: the giant sable antelope of Angola, a majestic, coal-black quadruped with breathtaking curved horns over five feet long. It is an enthralling and tragic tale of exploration and adventure, politics and war, the brutal realities of life in Africa today and the bitter choices of conflicting conservation strategies.

A Certain Curve of Horn traces the sable's emergence as a highly sought-after natural history prize before the First World War, and follows its struggle to survive in a war zone fought over by the troops of half a dozen nations, and its transformation into a political symbol and conservation icon. As he follows the trail of this mysterious animal, Walker interweaves the stories of the adventurers, scientists, and warriors who have come under the thrall of the beast, and how their actions would shape the fate of the giant sable antelope and the history of the war-torn nation that is its only home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802140685
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/22/2004
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	Prologue	1
Part 1
1.	Tracks in Shadow	7
2.	Varian's Giant	35
3.	"The Finest Horns in the World"	62
4.	Enter the Biologist	113
5.	Caught in the War Zone	141
Part 2
6.	A Conflict of Crusaders	201
7.	The Hunter's Bargain	253
8.	Waiting for Angola	269
9.	Luanda & Quicama	295
10.	Flight of Antelopes	346
11.	Expedition to Malange	384
	Epilogue	409
	Notes	415
	Acknowledgments	457
	Credits	463
	Index	465

Editorial Reviews

One of a writer's hardest tasks is introducing his readers to a distant country few of them have ever seen and to a culture they have scarcely heard of. It is an assignment more often attempted than successfully completed. John Frederick Walker, a freelance writer, succeeds in bringing the southwestern African country of Angola to wretched life in A Certain Curve of Horn. — Anthony Day

The Los Angeles Times

Walker, a freelance journalist with a passion for Africa, provides a highly readable account of the endangered giant sable antelope. It was first described by Europeans in 1909 and has ever since been hunted for trophy, investigated by biologists, and cherished by Angolans as a symbol of their country and its survival. As with all things ecological, the story of the antelope is deeply entwined with people and politics. Walker creates a detailed portrait all the way from the early colonization of Angola by the Portuguese in the mid-1400s to the building of railroads in the early 1900s, independence of sorts in 1975, the horrific, 25-year-long civil war, and the current struggles of a long-impoverished people. He does an excellent job of weaving the biology and natural history of the antelope with the social and political history of Angola. This is not a simple story for the casual armchair naturalist, but readers interested in the giant sable, Angola, or how politics and conservation mix will find this worthwhile. Recommended for larger public libraries, environmental collections, and Africa/Angola collections.-Nancy Moeckel, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH

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