2012 Philadelphia Book Festival

In The Sounding of the Whale, D. Graham Burnett provides a comprehensive study of cetacean science, history, and policy. Called “the definitive account of whalekind’s transformation from cipher to signifier” in Paul Greenberg’s New York Times review, the book details the activities of the Discovery Investigations, the International Whaling Commission, and the save-the-whale movement—showing how science, politics, conservation, and the counterculture intertwine to transform the way whales are regarded. A professor at Princeton University, Burnett is the author of the books A Trial by Jury, Trying Leviathan, and Masters of All They Surveyed. Hehas written essays and reviews for a variety of publications, including the New Yorker, Harpers, the Economist, and the New York Times, and serves as editor of the art magazine Cabinet.