Rats : observations on the history and habitat of the city's most unwanted inhabitants

New York Public Library Book for the Teenager New York Public Library Book to Remember PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year "Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller. Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats , the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat. Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing. With an all-new Afterword by the author Thoreau Went To Walden Pond To Live Simply In The Wild And Contemplate His Own Place In The World By Observing Nature. Robert Sullivan Went To A Disused, Garbage-filled Alley In Lower Manhattan To Contemplate The City And Its Lesser-known Inhabitants -- By Observing The Rat. Rats Live In The World Precisely Where Humans Do; They Survive On The Effluvia Of Human Society; They Eat Our Garbage. While Dispensing Gruesomely Fascinating Rat Facts And Strangely Entertaining Rat Stories -- Everyone Has One, It Turns Out -- Sullivan Gets To Know Not Just The Beast But Its Friends And Foes: The Exterminators, The Sanitation Workers, The Agitators And Activists Who Have Played Their Part In The Centuries-old War Between Human City Dweller And Wild City Rat. With A Notebook And Night-vision Gear, He Sits In The Streamlike Flow Of Garbage And Searches For Fabled Rat Kings, Sets Out To Trap A Rat, And Eventually Travels To The Midwest To Learn About Rats In Chicago, Milwaukee, And Other Cities Of America. With Tales Of Rat Fights In The Gangs Of New York Era And Stories Of Harlem Rent Strike Leaders Who Used Rats To Win Basic Rights For Tenants, Sullivan Looks Deep Into The Largely Unrecorded History Of The City And Its Masses -- Its Herd-of-rats-like Mob. Funny, Wise, Sometimes Disgusting Yet Always Compulsively Readable, Rats Earns Its Unlikely Place Alongside The Great Classics Of Nature Writing. Nature -- City Rat -- Where I Went To See Rats And Who Sent Me There -- Edens Alley -- Brute Neighbors -- Summer -- Unrepresented Man -- Food -- Fights -- Garbage -- Exterminators -- Excellent -- Trapping -- Plague -- Winter -- Plague In America -- Catching -- Rat King -- Golden Hill -- Spring -- Notes -- Acknowledgments. Robert Sullivan. Originally Published: 2004. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [228]-250). WHEN I WROTE the following account of my experiences with rats, I lived in an apartment building on a block filled with other apartment buildings, amidst the approximately eight million people in New York City, and I paid rent to a landlord that I never actually metthough I did meet the superintendent, who was a very nice guy.