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apechild 's review for:
The Orchid Thief
by Susan Orlean
This is a fascinating historical/travel/non-fiction account of the human obsession with orchids, in particular in the Florida part of the world. It all started out when Orlean read a random little newspaper snippet about a guy, Laroche, on trial for stealing wild orchids out of the Fakahatchee nature reserve in Florida, which is tribal, and using the random excuse that he was with Indians, who can't be prosecuted from taking wildlife/flora from their lands, as they are exempt. She decides to go down to Florida to meet this guy and hear about these ghost orchids he was trying to steal. She gets drawn into his very, very eccentric life history and obsessions, and from there meets smugglers, nursery men, orchid assocations, orchid obsessives and discovers the history of orchid plundering and smuggling and just how obsessed the human race has become with these plants. It is insane. Back in the "good old days" - the 1800s - pre environmetal laws, smugglers were taking cart loads of plants out to send over the seas to collectors - most of which died en route. These orchid hunters led dangerous lives, were highly competitive and often killed one another if they met in the jungle. Over flowers. And to a greater or lesser extent, the human race just can't help itself, and the madness continues. What is tragic is that no one seems to be able to respect these plants, leave them be, and just admire them in their natural habitat. The need to posess takes over all.
This book was written twenty years ago, so the story no doubt has continued and progressed, but it's a very interesting story up to the point it gets to here.
This book was written twenty years ago, so the story no doubt has continued and progressed, but it's a very interesting story up to the point it gets to here.