«The biases and effects of Grzimek's work are an important, and illustrative, piece of this puzzle.»

Steven M. Press, Journal of Modern History

«Lekan imparts in his reader a much greater understanding of how the Serengeti emerged as an internationally renowned conservation site....Lekan has set out to tell a complicated history that necessarily oscillates between transnational and local perspectives....Overall this work offers a welcome perspective on German-led conservatism in East Africa and the creation of the Serengeti National Park.»

Eleanor Larsson, Folk Life: Journal of Ethnological Studies

«Lekan's monograph...skillfully weaves together German postwar history, decolonization, and Cold War dynamics....Our Gigantic Zoo showcases the unique potential of environmental history as a narrative tool....Readers learn an incredible amount about postwar dynamics, conservation efforts, and the real impact on communities on the ground. Discussions about framing Masai in light of conservation and their efforts to fit into broader visions of the region illustrate the complexities at the heart of this book.»

Martin Kalb, German Studies Review

«It is to Lekan's lasting credit that he has pried apart the myriad layers that underpinned Grzimek's quest to save the Serengeti: from conservation's colonial origins to African demands for environmental sovereignty; from a global campaign to turn Africa's wildlife into a 'world heritage' to the African governments that had to foot the bill; and from Grzimek's illusion that nature conservation was above partisanship to the political tensions of decolonization and the Cold War....Lekan also opens the lens wide to capture the equally unexamined assumptions that international conservation organizations brought to the table.»

Astrid M. Eckert, Central European History

«Every page is brimming with ideas and facts and the argument has many threads and layers.»

Corinna Treitel, H-Environment Roundtable

«This is a richly-contextualized study, in which 'West Germans' anxieties about modernization and American influence in postwar Europe' and West German film censorship get interwoven with colonial mythologizing around Maasai and Tanzania's Cold War politics. Indeed, integrating these perspectives, themes, and historical frames together around Grzimek, Germans, and the Serengeti is what makes this book a distinct global conservation history.... Our Gigantic Zoo provides much for scholars of conservation in Africa, of decolonization, and of international activism, among others, to consider.»

Jess Schauer, H-Environment Roundtable

«Thomas Lekan's engrossing and highly original book is a history of vicarious West German nature conservation in East Africa during the Cold War years. It is consistently thought-provoking and illuminating on a wide range of issues--the shadow of the Nazi past, neocolonialism, human-animal relations, and eco-tourism. Elegantly organized and very well written, Our Gigantic Zoo is a major achievement.»

David Blackbourn, author of The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germa

«This monograph explores the complex legacy of West German TV personality and conservationist Bernhard Grzimek in present-day Tanzania....Lekan examines Grzimek's role in advocating for the creation of national parks in the Serengeti and encouraging German tourists to travel there to see the animals and support the parks. Grzimek's vision was realized at the expense of Maasai herdsmen..., who play an important role in the ecology of the Serengeti. Lekan places Grzimek's story within a multitude of contexts: post-war West German reluctance to confront the Nazi past, Germany's colonial history, African decolonization and neocolonialism, the Cold War, and the beginnings of ecotourism. Lekan also incorporates African voices,... illustrating leaders' engagement with and ultimate repudiation of Grzimek's program. Meticulously researched and accessibly written....Overall, Lekan highlights the dangers of 'thinking locally and acting globally,' as illustrated by Grzimek's story.»

Choice

«Lekan's substantial study of German-led conservationism in East Africa illuminates the vexed relationship between global north environmentalists on one hand and global south citizens and their living spaces on the other. Our Gigantic Zoo challenges us to be vigilant about the complex motifs and possibly devastating impact of environmentalism at a moment of global environmental crisis. The book reminds us that neoliberal capitalism draws on inequalities produced by centuries of domination, and that conservationism is embedded in a larger web of power relations.»

Nina Berman, author of Germans on the Kenyan Coast: Land, Charity, and Romance

«In Our Gigantic Zoo, Thomas Lekan adroitly combines biography and history to show how Bernhard Grzimek, Germany's post World War II conservation zealot, created Africa's most iconic national park on the Serengeti plains of northwestern Tanzania. The 'zookeeper,' as Lekan calls him, championed the idea that only by consuming the Serengeti could the German public save it from destruction. Grzimek's vision became reality but only at great cost both to the zookeeper himself and to the dispossessed Tanzanians who lost their home in the name of conservation and tourism. Our Gigantic Zoo is a must read for students and conservation scientists alike.»

Chris Conte, author of Highland Sanctuary: Environmental History in Tanzania's Usambara Mountains

«Our Gigantic Zoo offers a compelling and readable portrait of Bernhard Grzimek, West Germany's first celebrity animal expert, from his years as a Nazi agricultural expert to his wildlife conservation efforts in Julius Nyerere's Tanzania. Thomas Lekan looks beyond the spectacle of animal television to tell a story about Cold War geopolitics, decolonization, and colonial and post-colonial dispossession.»

Andrew Zimmerman, George Washington University