Rin Tin Tin

In the rubble of a bombed-out kennel in France during World War I, Lee Duncan discovered and trained a dog that would one day rise to the top of Hollywood's box office. Susan Orleans novel about the dog and the tale is a moving examination of the human-animal relationship. It's also a multi-layered history of entertainment and entrepreneurship in the twentieth century. It spans ninety years and covers topics such as the transformation of dogs from working farmhands to treasured family members, the origins of obedience training, the evolution of dog breeding, the growth of Hollywood, and the history and present of dogs in combat.