From the Publisher
An innocent act of kindness turns a mother bear into a dangerous marauder. When she is killed, Stephen Stringham and his new bride Alatanna decide to raise her three orphans. Deep in the Alaska wilderness, they help Ontak, Chrislee, and Jonjoanak learn which plants to eat, as well as how to fish and hunt. Dr. Stringham's extensive scientific background make him an ideal teacher of the foraging and social skills that cubs need for living in a bear's world. In the process of teaching them, Stringham learns from the cubs how bears express emotions and communicate, as well as how to appease defensive bears or intimidate aggressive ones.
As the Stringham's bond with their furry charges deepens, they achieve a connection that is all too uncommon between people and animals. When Dr. Stringham is told by a government agency to destroy the cubs, the depth of that bond is tested. Beauty Within the Beast is a heartwarming true story of how people and animals can find common ground and live in harmony on earth.
Chapters 1 7 tell how Steve and Alatanna ended up adopting the cubs and their experiences bonding with the youngsters as their fear of bears, and the cubs' fear of people, were gradually replaced with trust and affection. Chapters 8 13 tell how Steve and Alatanna helped the cubs master survival skills, while the cubs introduced their foster parents to a whole world of new insights into the nature of bears their aggression, communication, intelligence, curiosity, playfulness and affection. Where necessary, Dr. Stringham has fleshed out his narrative with knowledge acquired from his more recent studies of black and grizzly bear behavior which continue to this day.
From the Inside Flap
"Steve Stringham's "Beauty Within the Beast" is a captivating, entertaining, and edifying gem. We are treated to a wealth of information about bears served up as an often delightful, sometimes sobering tale of man and beast learning to live with each other. The challenges and adventures of three orphaned bear cubs and the man and woman who adopt them serve as backdrop for an amazing amount of factual information about bear ecology and management. No other book I know of offers such an entertaining and enlightening view of a bear's life."
(David Mattson, Ph.D., a leading researcher on grizzly bears, Biological Resources Division, USGS.)
"From personal experience, I know that raising bear cubs profoundly changes your life. This thought-provoking and elegantly written book captures the serendipitous events that lead to such encounters and the ensuing bittersweet adventures that reawaken and reaffirm our emotional kinship with other intelligent, but mysterious, beings."
(Gordon Burghardt PhD, Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville. Pioneering researcher on the behavior of bears and reptiles.)
"This is a precious book, and one difficult to put down once opened. Moreover, it has the elements for becoming a classic. It is not only a rich, authoritative source of bear behavior, but it mixes in the human element with humor and empathy, and confronts with courage and intelligence contentious issues in bear conservation. I have learned from this book and enjoyed it greatly. I recommend it highly!
(Valerius Geist PhD, retired Professor and former Director of the Faculty of Environmental Design, Univ of Calgary. Pioneering researcher on moose, mountain goats and mountain sheep. Author of numerous technical and popular books on wildlife, beginning with Mountain Sheep: A Study in Behavior and Evolution.)
