Lucid, nontechnical study presents the absorbing human, scientific and political dramas involved in the discovery and reconstruction of the gigantic reptiles, birds and other creatures who roamed the prehistoric West. Much of the book is devoted to the work of Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, two brilliant 19th-century paleontologists whose discoveries revolutionized the discipline, but whose bitter feud is legendary. "Excellently written...highly recommended..."--Science Books. 51 halftones. Bibliography.