Beautiful Jim Key: The Lost History of a Horse and a Man Who Changed the World

Beautiful Jim Key: The Lost History of a Horse and a Man Who Changed the World BY MIM EICHLER RIVAS (WILLIAM MORROW, $25.95)

Long before animal rights became a well-known cause, before The Horse Whisperer or Seabiscuit were household names, there was Beautiful Jim Key. Now a book by Mim Eichler Rivas chronicles the life and career of Beautiful Jim, the famed horse who could "read, write, spell, do math, tell time, sort mail, use a cash register and a telephone, cite Bible passages, and engage in political debate." It also tells the story of the horse's gentle, unassuming owner and trainer, William "Doc" Key.

The duo traveled throughout the country from 1897to 1912, astonishing crowds everywhere with their act. In the process, Doc Key, whose innovative training methods championed the use of apples and sugar cubes over the whip, inspired spectators to join in the budding animal rights movement.

Beautiful Jim Key tells the story of two unlikely heroes: an ex-slave veterinarian from Tennessee and a horse with sickly beginnings. SABRA SNYDER

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation May 2005
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