Hoof Beats - by William T Taylor (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A new story about domestication of the horse and how horses forever altered the course of human history. Hoof Beats brings together cutting-edge science and archaeological discoveries from around the globe to explore how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in today. William Taylor, one of the foremost experts on the subject, traces the legacy of the horse from its initial domestication to the invention of horse-drawn transportation, through the explosive shift to mounted riding and dispersal to every corner of the globe. Illustrated with striking images and drawings highlighting horse cultures and archaeological discoveries from across the ancient world, this book fills in massive gaps in the historical record from 'horse country,' including new research in Mongolia and the Great Plains. Taylor synthesizes such revolutionary research to guide readers through the major discoveries that have placed the horse at the origins of significant contemporary issues--globalization, trade, biological exchange, and social inequality. Fascinating and highly original, Hoof Beats transforms our understanding not just of horses, but of how we interpret evidence of humanity's ancient past"

Book Synopsis

"Hoof Beats helps readers see the drama even in the grass eating. . . . Taylor has written that too-rare work that is as authoritative as it is legible to the lay audience."--New York Times

Journey to the ancient past with cutting-edge science and new data to discover how horses forever altered the course of human history.

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, William T. Taylor explores how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in today. Tracing the horse's origins and spread from the western Eurasian steppes to the invention of horse-drawn transportation and the explosive shift to mounted riding, Taylor offers a revolutionary new account of how horses altered the course of human history.

Drawing on Indigenous perspectives, ancient DNA, and new research from Mongolia to the Great Plains and beyond, Taylor guides readers through the major discoveries that have placed the horse at the origins of globalization, trade, biological exchange, and social inequality. Hoof Beats transforms our understanding of both horses and humanity's ancient past and asks us to consider what our relationship with horses means for the future of humanity and the world around us.

From the Back Cover

"From prehistoric times to the modern era, William Taylor weaves together science and history to present the great epic of the horse and its impact on the world and civilization." --Jack Weatherford, New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

"Delivered in beautiful and accessible prose that gallops, prances, and saunters with equine majesty, this genre-bending book is a compelling global history of the world people and horses made together. A captivating story that horse lovers, scholars, teachers, students, and the general public will find irresistible."--Akinwumi Ogundiran, author of The Yoruba: A New History

"Working on three continents with geneticists, historians, anthropologists, and Indigenous people, William T. Taylor has been pursuing for more than a decade the story of how people and horses came together. This is a crisp, thoughtful survey of one of the most exciting new areas in the study of the human past, unraveling the secrets of one of our species' oldest, deepest, and most essential relationships."--Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet

"A tremendous feat. Taylor integrates a vast quantity of different kinds of data to illustrate how the relationship between humans and horses, past and present, has shaped the world we live in today--and tells a terrific story along the way."--Emily Lena Jones, coauthor of Questioning Rebound: People and Environmental Change in the Protohistoric and Early Historic Americas

"The most comprehensive narrative to date about the relationship between humans and horses, a panoramic analysis of how the noble equid has led us to where we are today. No other book so succinctly describes the animal's role in the development of the global community."--Will Grant, author of The Last Ride of the Pony Express

"For millennia, historians have recounted the story of the horse in bits and pieces, much of it infused with myth and romance. William Taylor thoughtfully revisits the epic story of humankind's most important partner, weaving a sweeping new tale that replaces outdated thinking with the latest scientific revelations and adds a significant contribution to the literature."--Peter Gwin, Senior Editor, National Geographic

Review Quotes

"William T. Taylor is well qualified to write this book. He has specialised in equine archaeology at the University of Colorado Museum and has, with the help of others, dug many of the ancient tombs that he describes in his book. That horses, both and individually, have shaped human history cannot be disputed. They have also had, and perhaps still have, a symbolic importance to humans. Why else would we still be able to gaze at the skeleton of Napoleon's horse, Marengo, in the Army Museum or visit the tomb of Wellington's grey, Copenhagen, at Strathfield Saye?"-- "Salisbury Review"

"The depth of research that went into writing Hoof Beats is staggering, and Taylor does an exceptional job of delivering a work that is not only rich in detail but entertaining. It's an engaging and important story."-- "Cowgirl Magazine"

"A comprehensive and enlightening overview of the history of horsemanship as a global phenomenon; Hoof Beats offers a unique perspective, focusing on the horse's point of view rather than the human, which is a refreshing departure from the usual anthropocentric view of history."-- "Antiquity"

"Taylor's persuasive narrative leaves you with the humbling feeling of how integral horses have been to our civilisation. On their backs we have built empires."-- "Daily Mail"

"Hoof Beats is an indispensable guide to the contours of the human past as they were drawn through contact with horses."

-- "Not Even Past"

"Hoof Beats' melding of archeology, paleontology, anthropology, genetics, and history--including, importantly, indigenous perspectives--ultimately provides more than an assessment of Equus caballus and its place in history; it underscores the extent to which our modern world simply would not exist as we know it without the lasting bond between human and horse."-- "Animal Welfare Institute"

"The story of the horse is changing fast. Hoof Beats tells us where it stands just now, and can help fill the gap between scholarly developments and popular equine histories."-- "The Spectator"

"Fantastically rich."-- "Science"

"This eminently readable, patiently argued, and insightful history of horses will delight and instruct readers, even those who have never felt the pull of saddle leather and horse sweat. It provides the best summary to date of our ever increasing scientific knowledge of the horse and its interaction with our own species, and shows the debt we owe scholars like Taylor who have spent their lives traveling across the globe to lie on their bellies looking for the tiniest scraps of the past."-- "Asian Review of Books"

"Hoof Beats helps readers see the drama even in the grass eating. . . . Taylor has written that too-rare work that is as authoritative as it is legible to the lay audience."-- "New York Times"

"Taylor is helping break new ground with his scientific perspective on horse domestication, the timing and origins of which scholars have argued over for decades."-- "Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine"

About the Author

William T. Taylor is Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History in Boulder.