Gordon McMullan is Professor of English at King's College London. He has written about early modern drama, late-life creativity and cultures of commemoration and has edited plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He is a recipient of the Sam Wanamaker Award from Shakespeare's Globe and is a Fellow of the English Association and of the Royal Society of Arts.

'This is one of the most original, stylish and memorable works of cultural criticism I have read in a long time. McMullan's sheer range of reference is stunningly impressive: he moves with ease and panache between the logo of Liverpool Football Club, the nineteenth-century Peruvian guano trade and Shakespeare. It is beautifully written, packed with startling research and full of jaw-dropping surprises.' Sir Jonathan Bate, Regents Professor of Literature and Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University and author of The Song of the Earth

• Introduction; 1. Evil cormorant; 2. Cormorant and pelican; 3. Greedy cormorant; 4. Cormorant shit; 5. Invasive cormorant; 6. Indigenous cormorant (cormorant and pelican, part two); Conclusion: likeness.