Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain
by Martha Sherrill
List Price:
Our Price: $6.49
You Save: $19.46 (75%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.99 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Martha SherrillEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-02-28
ISBN: 1594201242
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Book Reviews of Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain
Book Review: Exceptional Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has touched me. The main character is morally strong, and the result of his strength has affected a breed of dog to a point beyond comprehension. If you own an Akita, this is a must read. If you do not own an Akita, you need to read this as well.
Summary of Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain
How one man's consuming passion for dogs saved a legendary breed from extinction and led him to a difficult, more soulful way of life in the wilds of Japan's remote snow countryAs Dog Man opens, Martha Sherrill brings us to a world that Americans know very little about-the snow country of Japan during World War II. In a mountain village, we meet Morie Sawataishi, a fierce individualist who has chosen to break the law by keeping an Akita dog hidden in a shed on his property.
During the war, the magnificent and intensely loyal Japanese hunting dogs are donated to help the war effort, eaten, or used to make fur vests for the military. By the time of the Japanese surrender in 1945, there are only sixteen Akitas left in the country. The survival of the breed becomes Morie's passion and life, almost a spiritual calling.
Devoted to the dogs, Morie is forever changed. His life becomes radically unconventional-almost preposterous-in ultra-ambitious, conformist Japan. For the dogs, Morie passes up promotions, bigger houses, and prestigious engineering jobs in Tokyo. Instead, he raises a family with his young wife, Kitako-a sheltered urban sophisticate-in Japan's remote and forbidding snow country.
Their village is isolated, but interesting characters are always dropping by-dog buddies, in-laws from Tokyo, and a barefoot hunter who lives in the wild. Due in part to Morie's perseverance and passion, the Akita breed strengthens and becomes wildly popular, sometimes selling for millions of yen. Yet Morie won't sell his spectacular dogs. He only likes to give them away.
Morie and Kitako remain in the snow country today, living in the traditional Japanese cottage they designed together more than thirty years ago-with tatami mats, an overhanging roof, a deep bathtub, and no central heat. At ninety-four years old, Morie still raises and trains the Akita dogs that have come to symbolize his life.
In beautiful prose that is a joy to read, Martha Sherrill opens up the world of the Dog Man and his wife, providing a profound look at what it is to be an individualist in a culture that reveres conformity-and what it means to live life in one's own way, while expertly revealing Japan and Japanese culture as we've never seen it before.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in General Books
A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy Leagueby Ron Suskind
Broadway; Published: 1999-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Booksby Azar Nafisi
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2003-12-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.25
Price in other shops:
Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youthby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2007-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X : As Told to Alex HaleyBallantine Books; Published: 1987-10-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Angela's Ashes: A Memoirby Frank McCourt
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1999-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Singsby Maya Angelou
Bantam; Published: 1983-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.71
Price in other shops:
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhoodby Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon; Published: 2004-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Lifeby Tony Dungy, Nathan Whitaker
Tyndale; Published: 2007-07-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.80
Price in other shops:
The Color of Water 10th Anniversary Editionby James McBride
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2006-02-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.40
Price in other shops:
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritanceby Barack Obama
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2004-08-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Lush Life: A Novelby Richard Price
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-03-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
The Art of Racing in the Rainby Garth Stein
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.92
Price in other shops:
People of the Book: A Novelby Geraldine Brooks
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.45
Price in other shops:
Unaccustomed Earthby Jhumpa Lahiri
Knopf; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops:
Barking: The Sound of a Language (Dogwise Training Manual)by Turid Rugaas
Dogwise Publishing; Published: 2008-02-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.37
Price in other shops:
Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeonby Nick Trout
Broadway; Published: 2008-03-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.94
Price in other shops:
Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dogby Ted Kerasote
Harvest Books; Published: 2008-04-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.28
Price in other shops:
Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards))by Pamela S. Turner, Yan Nascimbene
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 2004-05-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.22
Price in other shops:
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novelby David Wroblewski
Ecco; Published: 2008-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.77
Price in other shops:
Hachiko Waitsby Leslea Newman
Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); Published: 2004-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: