African Elephant: A History of Ivory and Empire

In The African Elephant: A History of Ivory and Empire, African-born author Innes Meek explores the history of the ivory trade that led to the shooting of so many elephants across Africa.

In The African Elephant: A History of Ivory and Empire, African-born author Innes Meek explores the history of the ivory trade that led to the shooting of so many elephants across Africa. From the mid-fifteenth century, ivory became a lucrative global commodity, prized for exquisite works of art as well as everyday objects such as piano keys and billiard balls. As demand grew, elephants were hunted across the continent and their tusks shipped to Europe, Asia and later America. The emergence of the cult of the big-game hunter brought a new dimension to the story, with disastrous consequences for elephant populations. Meek anchors this history in the experience of his father, a colonial administrator in East Africa in the 1940s and ’50s who himself shot a small number of elephants. The result is a vivid story of ivory, hunting and empire — and of different times and different mores.