‘Rat City’ Tells the Story of Pioneering Researcher John B. Calhoun

John B. Calhoun was an ecologist employed by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the effects of overcrowding on rats.

From 1947 to 1977, Calhoun built a series of sprawling habitats in which a rat’s every need was met — except space. The goal was for his team to make observations and take notes about how rodents responded to changes in their surroundings.

The results and implications of Calhoun’s studies are further explored in the new book “Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B. Calhoun,” authored by Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden.

Amazon provided the following summary: Rat City is the first book to tell the story of Calhoun’s experiments, and their extraordinary influence — an enthralling record of urban design and dystopian science. Meticulously researched, it follows Calhoun’s struggle to solve the problem of crowding before America’s cities drain into the behavioral sink. And as the “war on rats” continues around the world, and our post-pandemic society reevaluates the necessity of urban living, the riveting story of Rat City is more relevant than ever.

Learn more at https://www.amazon.com/Rat-City-Overcrowding-Derangement-Universes/dp/1685890997.