Rats!

Robert Sullivan's Rats is about exactly what you think: rats. Large and small (ok, mostly large), fancy/pet (for about one paragraph) and wild (for the rest of the book), Sullivan describes his year of personal rat research. He focuses mostly, though not exclusively, on New York City's furry foes and even more specifically on those dwelling in an alley in the financial district that he monitored for a year.

Written in an personal and engaging style, Sullivan's prose is extraordinarily readable given his subject matter. He writes very anecdotally, taking the reader with him step by step as he learns about rats through personal observation, reading, conversations with experts, and ride-alongs with exterminators. Among the angles he explores are: rats throughout history, favorite rat foods, how to combat rats vs. where and why rats thrive, and rats' influence on politics.

Though rats are often disgusting, Sullivan rarely goes for the gross-out. One exception is when he recounts the early American recreation of rat fighting. In secret back rooms of taverns (much the way I imagine modern-day dog fights taking place), dogs would be released in a pen of countless rats. The dogs' task was simple: kill as many rats as possible within a set period of time. Though an effective method of population control, early animal rights advocates shut the rat fights down. Before they did, though, things got more than a little stomach-turning:

On rare occasions, men fought the rats. A New York correspondent covering a Philadelphia rat fight described one scene: "Then came a horrible spectacle. Quick as lightning the man plunged his hand into the mass of rats, seized one by the back and carried it to his mouth--with a squeak and a crunch, the lifeless rat carcass was tossed aside with a broken neck." When men fought rats, the man was expected to bite the rat's head off. This often resulted in the man's face being bloodied from rat bites. (78)

Yuck. Luckily the rest of the book prompts a much more thoughtful response than, "Eeeew!"