Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness
by Doug Peacock
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Book Summary Information
Author: Doug PeacockEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-04-15
ISBN: 0805045430
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness
Book Review: Awesome book, one of the best environmental books out there
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an outstanding book written by a man who is extraordinarily comfortable in his own skin, yet extraordinarily uncomfortable in modern society.
Peacock is a man who can write lyrically and genuinely about the wilderness, who can stand tall while staring a grizzly in the eyes, and yet who can't attend a party, or walk through a city, or even meet an innocuous stranger who has expressed an interest in chatting with him.
I've read a few other books by people who share Peacock's gruff no-compromise attitude when it comes to environmental protection, and have been really bothered by the sense that they seem to have formed a "we understand nature and you don't" club that excludes most of the environmental movement. Authors Gary Ferguson and Rick Bass (who spent some wilderness time with Peacock) have managed to make this model of environmental conservation seem childish and churlish. But Peacock, who is basically writing the same argument, gives this idea wings on which we soar.
Peacock is brutally honest about himself, and about how his war experiences in Vietnam shattered his soul and left him thrashing about the country in a state of spiritual agony. When he relates a story about becoming frustrated with a payphone operator, and then taking out a shotgun and blowing the telephone to bits, we know that he's not billing himself as a healthy individual.
This honesty lets us see the genuine love that Peacock has for nature in general and grizzly bears in particular. He is well-versed in the scientific side of environmental preservation, and gives us plenty to chew on as far as the good and bad of the institutions that are involved with grizzly bear issues. But his most compelling, unique contributions come when he is alone in the wild, stalking grizzly bears carrying nothing but photography equipment and a knife, with which he is prepared to defend himself to the death.
This is a great book for the environmental movement, and deserves a unique place in that broad and cluttered field. You should definitely read this book if you're an environmentalist. More importantly, you should give it to someone who is not an environmentalist, even someone who is against environmentalism.
Peacock has a way of framing the issues in a way that even a republican will love and understand. His individualistic approach and character are the antithesis of the characterization of environmentalists that the right has been pushing for the last forty years.
Summary of Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness
For nearly twenty years, alone and unarmed, author Doug Peacock traversed the rugged mountains of Montana and Wyoming tracking the magnificent grizzly. His thrilling narrative takes us into the bear's habitat, where we observe directly this majestic animal's behavior, from hunting strategies, mating patterns, and denning habits to social hierarchy and methods of communication. As Peacock tracks the bears, his story turns into a thrilling narrative about the breaking down of suspicion between man and beast in the wild.
Doug Peacock, the model for the George Hayduke of Edward Abbey's novels The Monkey Wrench Gang and Hayduke Lives!, served two tours of duty in Vietnam as a Green Beret medic, ministering to the Montagnard and Hre peoples of the highlands while trying to jump over the bullets that rang around him. When he returned home, as he writes, "I retreated to the woods and pushed my mind toward sleep with cheap wine." In those woods he found grizzly bears, and among them he shook off memories of war. In the pages of this memoir, recounting what has now been Peacock's many years among them, the bears of Montana come to life. They find an eloquent protector here.
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