Barnum Brown

From his stunning discovery of Tyrannosaurus rexone hundred years ago to the dozens of other important new dinosaur species he found, Barnum Brown led a remarkable life (1873-1963), spending most of it searching for fossils--and sometimes oil--in every corner of the globe. One of the most famous scientists in the world during the middle of the twentieth century, Brown--who lived fast, dressed to the nines, gambled, drank, smoked, and was known as a ladies' man--became as legendary as the dinosaurs he uncovered. Barnum Brownbrushes off the loose sediment to reveal the man behind the legend. Drawing on Brown's field correspondence and unpublished notes, and on the writings of his daughter and his two wives, it discloses for the first time details about his life and travels--from his youth on the western frontier to his spying for the U.S. government under cover of his expeditions. This absorbing biography also takes full measure of Brown's extensive scientific accomplishments, making it the definitive account of the life and times of a singular man and a superlative fossil hunter.

Lowell Dingus is Research Associate in Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He is the author of Hell Creek, Montana, and coauthor of Walking on Eggs and the Mistaken Extinction. Mark A. Norell is Chair of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and coauthor of Unearthing the Dragon. Together with Eugene Gaffney, Dingus and Norell coauthored Discovering Dinosaurs Evolution, Extinction, and the Lessons of Prehistory (UC Press, winner of an American, Library Association Award).