Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest, Most Fought over T-Rex Ever Found - Hardcover

Fiffer, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0716740176 ISBN 13: 9780716740179

Publisher: W H Freeman & Co, 2000

Synopsis

Over 65 million years ago in what is now Cheyenne River Sioux territory in South Dakota, a Tyrannosaurus rex matriarch locked in a ferocious battle fell mortally wounded into a riverbed. In 1990, her skeleton was found, virtually complete, in what many call the most spectacular dinosaur fossil discovery to date.

And then another battle began--a "Survival of the Fittest" free-for-all involving commercial dinosaur hunters, gun-toting law officers, an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Native American tribe, jealous academics, an enterprising auction house, major museums, and corporate giants, all making their claim for the dinosaur named Sue (after the field paleontologist who first spotted her bones). At stake: not just Sue's wealth of scientific riches, but her grant-drawing power and vast commercial potential as well.

Before it was over, there would be claims and counterclaims; charges of checkbook-polluted science, criminal larceny, and vengeful prosecutions; and devastating prison terms. And the gavel would come down on the largest-ever ($8.36 million) auction price tag for a fossil, paid by Chicago's Field Museum, with help from Disney and McDonald's.

Now, as her May, 2000, museum unveiling nears, Sue is not only poised to be a scientific phenomenon but a main attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom and (fittingly enough for the world's greatest meat eater) a marketing superstar for McDonald's. Meanwhile, the man whose team actually unearthed Sue--professional dinosaur hunter Peter Larson--remains hauntingly, touchingly obsessed with the 41-foot-long, dead-for-millions-of-years T-rex.

Sue is not just another dinosaur, and Tyrannosaurus Sue is not just another dinosaur book. It is a fascinating introduction to the centuries-old history of commercial fossil hunting, a legal thriller, and a provocative look at academic versus commercial science and the chase for the money that fuels both. And, in the case of Peter Larson, through whose eyes most of the story is revealed, a kind of love story. Steve Fiffer, an attorney as well as an author who has followed the story for the past seven years, has captured the whole range of characters and issues embroiled in the fight for Sue. Ranging the prehistoric Badlands to the hallowed halls of justice, academia, and merchandising tie-ins, Fiffer communicates both the excitement over Sue's discovery and the motivations, maneuverings, and absurdities of the various forces attempting to control her destiny.

About this title

Review:

How much is that T. Rex in the window? Journalist Steve Fiffer looks at the most contentious paleontological find ever in Tyrannosaurus Sue. This scientific, sociological, and legal study is entertaining and insightful, highlighting the personalities of the researchers, attorneys, and tribal and federal authorities who struggled for years over the ownership rights to the best-preserved Rex specimen yet found. From its discovery in South Dakota in 1990 by Susan Hendrickson and Peter Larson through the tortuous court cases to decide its fate to the final auction at Sotheby's, Fiffer finds just the right words to describe the action, a difficult task given the conflicting reports of contesting witnesses. Professional jealousy and academic elitism (or concern for valuable scientific material and Indian property rights) led to accusations of illegal collecting and the seizure of the skeleton by federal agents shortly after its move to Larson's Black Hills Institute. Suits, countersuits, and indictments escalated the struggle into an all-out war with vast sums of money and professional reputations at stake. In the end, Larson was imprisoned as an example to illegal collectors despite his sincere belief that he had worked within the law, and Sue was awarded to property owner Maurice Williams and purchased for $8 million by Chicago's Field Museum with the assistance of the McDonald's and Disney corporations. Tyrannosaurus Sue is a riveting tale, well-written and just unsettling enough to provoke thought and discussion. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover:

"A blow-by-blow account for control of the world's most famous dinosaur--real tour de force!"
--Kenneth Carpenter, Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Natural History

"For more than 65 million years, Sue rested in her Cretaceous coffin. She awoke to a world of legal battles and rivalry as fierce in their way as anything she faced when alive. Steve Fiffer tells her compelling story as well as it could be told. This book is a must for anyone with even the slightest interest in the interplay between science and the law."
--Dr. James L. Powell, President and Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History

"A century after the Great Bone Wars of Cope and Marsh hit the headlines, Sue emerged from the earth--only to become embroiled in another fin de siecle fossil fiasco. Steve Fiffer relates Sue's fascinating story with flair, and with sensitivity to those who took part in the saga."
--Blake Edgar, editor of Dinosaur Digs and co-author of From Lucy to Language

"Steve Fiffer has written a lively, must-read book that untangles the complexities of the 'story of Sue' for all of those interested in something that can never happen again. Or could it?"
--Philip J. Currie, Curator of Dinosaurs at the Royall Tyrrell Museum of Palaentology in Alberta

About this edition

• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0716740176
• ISBN 13: 9780716740179
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248