A partnership of the History Book Festival and the Lewes Public Library, this monthly discussion group, sponsored by Dogfish Head, focuses on books that were featured at the 2019 Festival. The group is open to all lovers of history and meets at the Library on the third Wednesday of the month at 2 pm.

This month's book is Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants, by Jacob Shell. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2019)

ABOUT Giants of the Monsoon Forest
Shell will discuss how people have worked with elephants for eons to log the mountainous rainforests of Burma and India, where some of the world’s last stands of wild teak grow. This book takes readers on a historical journey, exploring the lives of these extraordinarily intelligent creatures, and the mahout, the term for the men who ride them. Their close relationships begin when the animals are young and last for many decades. The author presents new perspectives on animal intelligence, describing, for example, large-scale rescues by elephants during wars and after floods, and an elephant who sneaks away from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to mate with another in a passing herd.

Author Jacob Shell will join the discussion by Skype.

Registration is requested.
Sign up online or by calling the library at 302-645-2733, or stopping by the Circulation Desk. Walk-ins are welcome. Copies of the book will also be available at the Library Circulation Desk.

Purchase Giants of the Monsoon Forest at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival, and help support local independent bookstores. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets.