Customer Reviews

The Ben Lilly Legend

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ben Lilly lived in the wild, and he was as wild as the predators he hunted. No animal in the woods was more at home than the bearded, eccentric Ben Lilly. He and his hounds never slept in a house for over 40 years. A grim destroyer of bears and mtn lions, working with an Old Testament fervor? Or a keen observer of nature, a naturalist that benefitted modern science and a pioneer of game management? A little of both perhaps, but doubtless the greatest bear and lion biologists of our day could learn much if able to sit at Mr. Lilly's campfire in the rugged Mogollon mtns of the Southwest. Lilly could have hunted with Bridger, Carson, Old Bill Williams and the best of them. No man is said to have matched his endurance, tracking skills or marksmanship. He lived into a modern age but remained as wild as the forest primeval.

I rank this book so highly as I do all such type of literature. It may not bring long philosophical answers but it does make us look at who would appear to the man on the street if he saw Ben Lilly as someone uneducated and ingnorant when he is quite the contrary. I spent a lot of time traveling the US and Europe years
ago and made it a point to stop and talk with people doing what might seem menial jobs. I talked with a gardner in Madrid near the Pardo Museum who had worked a rose garden all of his life, he was then eighty years old. Ben Lilly brings to life a person who lived in a time of interesting characters of this country. He reminds me of the early market hunters found on the east coast of this country. Do some research through the Georgia Historial Society in Savannah, Georgia. They provided fresh waterfowl and game for the local resturants. All of these men were of a unique and misunderstood nature. Ben Lilly was one of these men.

I really enjoyed this read. Ben Lilly is an enigma. The book is well worth the money.

Great book ! Read it in ONE sitting.
I sure wish I had this guys stamina !
A real inspiration for us testosterone-laden guys.

This book is truly a waste of time and money.What this man did is for the most part ludicrous if not down right bull... The author's hero worship of the subject is evident in the fact that the subject is potrayed almost as a saint.The really bad part is the somewhat warped view of history the author submits.Some of the events and people written about here just didn't do or act as potrayed in this book.I've read other J.Frank Dobie books and have been delighted by them.This one does not measure up to the others.Anyone interested in reading a great outdoor adventure book in the biography field,should read "Alaska's Wolf Man" by Jim Rearden.It is available from Amazon.com and is worth the price.