When the American paleontologists Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh met in the 1860’s, they were friends at first, even naming newly discovered species of dinosaurs after one another and working together at a dig, but Marsh secretly bribed pit operators to send new discoveries his way, thereby cutting out Cope. In publications the two began pointing out flaws in the others’ work and a fierce rivalry was born. Dinosaur digs throughout Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming were vicious affairs as the two scientists sought to sabotage one another’s careers by stealing fossils, destroying bones, and cutting off each other’s funding. Miller gives us a dramatic Baroque version of the Bone Wars, exaggerating the rivalry in two well-armed groups, although it is unclear as to which camp each figure hails from.⠀
