"Slithering through the murky spaces between history and mythology . . . Zach St. Georges meticulously researched book amounts to detective work, as he uncovers a whole cast of snake maniacs, including some who allegedly practice 'taxonomic vandalism,' an outlandish kind of crime whose victim is our shared understanding. Snake Men is a madcap delight!" -- Bernd Brunner, author of Bears: A Brief History and Extreme North: A Cultural History "Snake Men traces a sinuous route through dangerous and utterly engrossing territory. The indelible obsessions of Raymond Hoser, the snake in the taxonomic garden, occupy the book, but theyre wrapped around a core story about the names of living things. Zach St. George shows us, in sparkling prose, how these language matters have shaped the ways we talk, think, argue, agree, and disagree about the natural world in all its glorious and messy contours." -- Daniel Lewis, Huntington Library, author of Twelve Trees
