Intrigued by the trial of four men -- a white and three Seminole Indians -- for stealing orchids (which are endangered and federally protected) from the Fakahatchee swamp in southwest Florida, Orlean went down to talk to the principals and examine the orchid selling and collecting subculture. Her book does that, but also gives a quick lesson in the history of orchid mania in Europe and the U.S., and the speculative development and ecological damage done to Florida's wild places over the past two centuries. It's a fast, easy read (very much in the style of Diane Ackerman) about highly eccentric Americans -- obsessed whites and laid-back Indians, past and present.
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The review of this Book prepared by David Loftus