
Zoo Nebraska
The Dismantling of an American Dream
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Narrated by:
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Patrick Lawlor
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By:
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Carson Vaughan
About this listen
A resonant true story of small-town politics and community perseverance and of decent people and questionable choices, Zoo Nebraska is a timely requiem for a rural America in the throes of extinction.
Royal, Nebraska, population eighty-one - where the church, high school, and post office each stand abandoned, monuments to a Great Plains town that never flourished. But for nearly twenty years, they had a zoo, seven acres that rose from local peculiarity to key tourist attraction to devastating tragedy. And it all began with one man’s outsize vision.
When Dick Haskin’s plans to assist primatologist Dian Fossey in Rwanda were cut short by her murder, Dick’s devotion to primates didn’t die with her. He returned to his hometown with Reuben, an adolescent chimp, in the bed of a pickup truck and transformed a trailer home into the Midwest Primate Center. As the tourist trade multiplied, so did the inhabitants of what would become Zoo Nebraska, the unlikeliest boon to Royal’s economy in generations and, eventually, the source of a power struggle that would lead to the tragic implosion of Dick Haskin’s dream.
©2019 Carson Vaughan. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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I read this book using immersion reading while listening to the audio book narrated by Patrick Lawlor, captures the dialog and essence of the work beautifully. Hard to put down and eye opening.
Dismantling of a Man and his Dream
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There were scarce few heros here, save the tragic victims of a small town's naivety and perhaps willful ignorance.
I'm glad I read this and I know Nebraska better for it.
Interesting.
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a great story of America
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PRO: The story itself is fascinating (Truth is stranger than fiction), and the performance is good.
CON: The book is extremely detailed to the point in which I believe certain parts of chapters detract from the overall main focus.
Summary: Glad to have it on audio book as I would not have the focus to read it.
Not my cup of tea
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A crazy true story, told well
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Meh
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Life in Royal, Nebraska.
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Mildly interesting
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