TITLE:
Dark Horses and Black Beauties:
Animals, Women, a Passion

AUTHOR:
Melissa Holbrook Pierson

PUBLISHER:
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc
500 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10110
Tel 212-354-5500
Fax 212-869-0856
Email: Sara Mercurio - smercurio@wwnorton.com
Website: www.wwnorton.com

ISBN #:
0-393-04947-7

RETAIL PRICE:
$22.95 U.S.A.
$32.99 Canada

ABOUT THE BOOK:
A diverse meditation on the ways, and whys, of women's deep attraction to one
animal above all others: the horse.

In a phenomenon too prevalent to be mere chance, little girls all over the
Western world wake one day to find themselves completely taken over by the
love of all things equine. They collect model Breyer horses; read books on
horse anatomy, evolution, and history; and barely breathe between riding
lessons. For some of them, the obsession fades after a few years but returns
with a vengeance in middle age. Then there is no stopping them. In fact, the
majority of horse owners in countries such as the United States and Britain
are female. The explanation turns out to be as full of surprises as the state
of affairs it describes.

Melissa Holbrook Pierson was one of those horse-crazy girls who later
returned to riding with a new appreciation for the nature of horses. She
delves beneath the shallow hypotheses explaining women's connection to horses
to look at how this communication with another animal opens us up to a new
appreciation of the larger "natural" world. Melding memoir, sociology,
history, anecdote, and a bit of prose poetry, Dark Horses and Black Beauties
is a unique approach to its subject that also seeks to transcend it, to
venture into the dark territory of humankind's relationship with animals—and
with itself.

"Whoever likes animals will love this book, and better yet, whoever seeks to
fathom the mysterious relationships between ourselves and other species will
be transported. Pierson's work is studded with remarkable insights, her voice
is clear and fresh, and her heart is with her subjects in a deeply satisfying
manner. This is not about horses as such, nor is it about people, thank
heaven. It's about a very prevalent, very powerful emotion that horses stir
in women, and it's riveting."
~Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs

"Pierson treads fearlessly on territory others have attempted to explore: the
passion little girls and grown women feel for horses. I like her honesty, her
frontal approach, her refusal to mythicize or glorify the attachment while at
the same time giving us an eminently readable account of her own life and
times among equines. This is a poignant, charming, and realistic book."
~Maxine Kumin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Melissa Holbrook Pierson is the author of The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is
About Motorcycles. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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