Ivory: A Lament for the Disintegration of Distinctive Cultures

Lee Clarke Zumpe praises Mike Resnick’s Ivory: A Legend of Past and Futurein the Tampa Bay Newspapers Online Edition. Lee begins by proclaiming that “The name Mike Resnick may not be as familiar as, say, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin or Harlan Ellison, but it should be,” and then goes on to justify this claim.

Lee goes on to talk about the stories-within-the-story, and then nails what I personally love about the book by saying, “ While the individual accounts of the warlord, the thief, the curator and the others who play a role in the history of the tusks display the appealing escapism of classic science fiction, the novel has an overriding melancholy about it that underscores the tragedy of post-colonialism and vanishing heritage. Resnick’s subtle theme of conservationism encompasses not only the flora and fauna of this planet, but the distinctive cultures of its varied ethnic groups – particularly those of Africa.”