Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot [Hardcover]

Michael McLeod (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520255712 | ISBN-13: 978-0520255715 | Publication Date: June 2, 2009 | Edition: 1

Part history, part road trip, and part biography, this is the true story of a remarkable group of men whose obsession with Bigfoot turned the giant hominid into an American icon. Award-winning journalist Michael McLeod tells of Bigfoot's rise to tabloid stardom in a fast-paced account that begins with his own journey to investigate a famous 1967 film clip of a Bigfoot in a California forest. McLeod proceeds to uncover a trail of clues reaching from the late nineteenth century, when a few ambitious, imaginative naturalists and explorers synthesized historical and indigenous folklore with Darwinian ideas and speculated that a proto-hominid "missing link" might still be alive in remote areas. That speculation would eventually inspire a colorful cast of loggers, hunters, con artists, and businessmen in the twentieth century to create the modern myth of Bigfoot, all of them angling for a piece of a monster that the media and the public still can't get enough of. Told through vividly narrated interviews and anecdotes, Anatomy of a Beast offers a unique perspective on the deep roots of counterfactual thinking--and how obsession and myth are created out of it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"McLeod approaches Bigfoot culture the way Susan Orlean approached orchids . . . artfully traces our culture's obsession to walking man-beasts."--San Francisco Chronicle

"A funny, well-written memoir about chasing down the believers."--Bookforum

"With prose that's both sensitive and probing, McLeod explores this very human aspect, the tendency to see pictures in the clouds, UFOs in the sky, and fragments of evolution in the woods."--Foreword

"McLeod writes evocatively of a rich, wondrous ecological area known as 'The Klamath Knot.'"--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"An entertaining and thoroughly researched travelogue, as much about America's need for mystery as the elusive denizens of the Klamath forests."--Willamette Week

From the Inside Flap

"Michael McLeod doesn't simply debunk hoaxes; he critically, but sympathetically, explores the motivations that have driven the 'Bigfoot community' to build an enormous and intricate, if ramshackle, edifice of lore. McLeod has written an anatomy of mythology with implications that go beyond the Bigfoot phenomenon. The Bigfoot mythologists' strange, colorful, and sometimes comical, personalities play a big part of this compulsively readable story."--David Rains Wallace, author of The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution

"In the same way that dinosaurs and other exotic beasts from Earth's distant and hazy past inspire and fascinate many of us, Bigfoot has captured the imagination of generations of Americans. Here, Michael McLeod approaches the 'Bigfoot phenomenon' in the same way that a detective would follow leads at a crime scene. The result is a delicious case study of human obsession and the fuzzy border between science and pseudoscience."--Chris Beard, author of The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (June 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520255712
• ISBN-13: 978-0520255715
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too cocky to be truly scientifc, June 20, 2009

By 

Scott Herriott (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot (Hardcover)

If you're interested in a skeptical tome on the subject of Bigfoot, you'd do a lot better with either Daegling's "Bigfoot Exposed" (horrible title...very good book) or Buh's "Bigfoot - the Life and Times of a Legend (good title...good book). McLeod is correct in pointing out a lot of weak pieces of evidence. But to leap from that to making absolute statements such as "But the Bigfoot phenomenon has never been about the truth. It's about storytelling" or (pertaining to the Patterson film) "Afterall, someone was in the suit, and Patterson's clock was ticking" has him coming off as presumptive and arrogant as someone boldly claiming there IS strong evidence for the existence of Bigfoot. One has to wonder if McLeod were around in Africa in the years prior to the discovery of the mountain gorilla, with him hearing anecdotal stories of man-like beings, would he have scoffed at such stories as wishful thinking rubbish? Apparently, he's one of these guys who mistakenly thinks that science is solely involved with defending what has already been verified and pooh-poohing that which hasn't, even though, in the case of the Sasquatch phenomenon, you have literally thousands of people who have claimed to see one. Personally, I believe there IS tons of b.s. and misinterpretation involved in the phenomenon, but to categorically rule out any plausible notion that such beings could exist comes off as someone who needs to review the principles of the scientific method and question his own apparently all-compassing cynical views of human beings ability to relay what they've experienced accurately.
Granted, in this day and age of computer-generated imagery, only a body or a part of one will suffice for verification. But to claim that any further searching is a pure waste of time seems to ignore the fact that prior to proving that both the mountain gorilla and orangutan existed, for hundreds of years, anecdotal tales abounded about their existence. Perhaps this too is the case with Bigfoot.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift from a friend, June 7, 2009

By 

S. F. Tye (winter springs, florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot (Hardcover)

I didn't buy this book but rather was given it as a gift. I have no particular interest in the subject matter and certainly held no prior views on the authenticity of Bigfoot. I read it in front of the 127 other books I currently have purchased but failed to read because it was given to me by a friend. The onus of friendships.

Much to my surprise, I very much enjoyed the book and found it difficult to put down. When I did put it down, it was often to go to the Internet and check out some aspect of the subject matter.

This book is not so much about Big Foot as such, arguably because there may not be any subject matter as a point of fact, but rather is about the actual search for the underlying truth in the stories of Big Foot. It is also about the possible perversion of that search for the truth and why it might have happened. The story about the hunt for Bigfoot actually makes very good reading. Beyond that, however, the author presents a wonderful portrait of the rationales and desires that drove the major participants to act as they did; insights that apply to many situations that may not be so dissimilar to this one.

At the end of the day this is a well written book that can take the reader beyond the specific subject matter at hand into an interesting look at what drives people in situations such as this. Situations where we want to believe, have to believe or simply need others to believe, even all three. While the book clearly discounts the existence of Bigfoot, it certainly had me wanting to believe, not just in the legend but in the people who pursued that legend. At the end of the day, it wasn't so much that I believed in the creature but rather that I believed in the spirit of the legend and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know those who would pursue that legend. I left satisfied but hungry and find myself checking on Bigfoot far more than I would otherwise have done, even if the author had proven its existence beyond a shadow of a doubt; and who would want to do that to such a wonderful legend?

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Easy Read, January 9, 2010

By 

John P. (OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot (Hardcover)

McCleod's book isn't bad... I give it two stars just for the entertainment factor, and for the fact that he actually talked to a lot of people.

I consider myself a skeptic who is OPEN to the possibility of an undiscovered species of ape in North America.

McCleod has so thoroughly made up his mind that the sasquatch CANNOT and DOES NOT exist, that it taints the whole book with a sheen of smug self-satisfaction... the author is surely smarter than these ridiculous bigfooters... how could they even entertain such an absurd idea?

And in all of his smugness, he glosses over many important things... the most important (in my opinion) being the fact that NO ONE HAS EVER SUCCESSFULLY DEBUNKED THE PATTERSON-GIMLIN FOOTAGE. McCleod goes along with the Bob H. in the suit idea, even though it is fraught with problems... he says "after all, SOMEONE had to be in the suit.." and leaves it at that.

Really? The PGF is a strange piece of footage... and I'm not a 100% believer that it shows a real animal... but watch it several times, over and over again, and you will see just how amazing it really is. If it is a hoax, it is absolutely ingenious.

McCleod dismisses it based on the testimony of guy who said he was working near Bluff Creek in October 1967, and HE never saw them there... CASE CLOSED! Patterson wasn't even there!

If this is your idea of well-researched journalism, you too will be able to dismiss the Patterson-Gimlin film, perhaps THE BEST evidence that there is, or was, something remarkable in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.

Obviously, McCleod is smarter than the many scientists and professional animators/creature designers who have been stumped and perplexed by the PGF... even today, over forty years later, NO ONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO REPRODUCE a similar piece of footage to prove that it was a hoax.

Just remember: some guy who was working in the woods back then never saw Patterson or Gimlin.... so it must be fake. You have to take that random guy's word for it.