The Medici Giraffe And Other Tales of Exotic Animals and Power

"Exotic animals have long entranced and inspired us. For centuries, they've served as diplomats and war machines, shaped the reigns of rulers, advanced knowledge, and captured the human imagination. How did such creatures come to make or break rulers and help shape the definition of what is means to be civilized?" "The Medici Giraffe contemplates this question through a chain of stories beginning in ancient Alexandria and traveling through republican Rome, Renaissance Florence, Aztec Mexico, baroque Prague, Napoleonic France, robber baron America, and right up to the present day, when two pairs of giant pandas - alone, it seemed - were able to warm the frosty relations between superpowers."--BOOK JACKET.