Death in the Long Grass: A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush [Hardcover]

Peter H. Capstick (Author), M. Philip Kahl (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1978

Few men can say they have known Africa as Peter Hathaway Capstick has know it-- leading safaris through lion country; tracking man-eating leopards along tangled jungle paths; running for cover as fear-maddened elephants stampede in all directions. And of the few who have known this dangerous way of life, fewer still can recount their adventures with the flair of this former professional hunter-turned-writer.

Based on Capstick's own experiences and the personal accounts of his colleagues, Death in the Long Grass portrays the great killers of the African bush-- not only the lion, leopard, and elephant, but the primitive rhino and the crocodile waiting for its unsuspecting prey, the titanic hippo and the Cape buffalo charging like an express train out of control. Capstick was a born raconteur whose colorful descriptions and eye for exciting, authentic detail bring us face to face with some of the most ferocious killers in the world-- underrated killers like the surprisingly brave and cunning hyena, silent killers such as the lightning-fast black mamba snake, collective killers like the wild dog. Readers can lean back in a chair, sip a tall, iced drink, and revel in the kinds of hunting stories Hemingway and Ruark used to hear in hotel bars from Nairobi to Johannesburg, as veteran hunters would tell of what they heard beyond the campfire and saw through the sights of an express rifle.

As thrilling as any novel, as taut and exciting as any adventure story, Death in the Long Grass takes us deep into the heart of darkness to view the Africa that few people have ever seen.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Hook-and-bullet adventures had by tough guys such as Teddy Roosevelt and Papa Hemingway may be out of favor in these times of eco-awareness, but Peter Hathaway Capstick's account of big-game hunting in Africa remains a classic. With humor, grace, and supreme tension, Capstick takes the reader on safari, eloquently stating his case for blood sport while portraying the intensity of the hunt. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Peter Hathaway Capstick’s 'Death in the Long Grass' continues to be one of the true classics of written hunting tales. I just read it again, and loved it just as much as when it was first published in the late 1970s."

--The Wichita Eagle

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (January 15, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312186134
• ISBN-13: 978-0312186135
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.1 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (149 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hunting & Fishing > Hunting
  • #53 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Adventurers & Explorers

More About the Author

After leaving Wall Street, the New Jersey native hunted in Central and South America before going to Africa, where he held pro hunting licenses in Ethiopia, Zambia, Botswana, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Capstick has also served in that most perilous of trades-- Elephant and Buffalo Cropping Officer.Peter Capstick has long made his home in Africa, the source of his inspiration.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Million Ways to Die in Africa January 8, 2003

By Jeffery Steele

Format:Hardcover

This book is nearly 300 pages long, but I finished it in an evening of reading, and when I did, I wished there had been another 300 pages to go. "Death in the Long Grass" is about the author's (Peter Hathaway Capstick) experience as a white hunter in Africa, and his close encounters with the various creatures there that either wanted to eat, trample, gore, or bite him and his associates.

This is not an informational guide about either hunting or Africa. The book's sole intent is to capture your attention with fascinating, hair-raising stories of Capstick's own close calls with the wildlife of Africa as well as his recounting of some other tales where the wildlife got the best of man.

The stories are utterly captivating. They would be interesting to read no matter who was telling them. But Capstick knows how to write by weaving his own interesting experiences in with other tales he has either heard or read about. He also has a wicked, morbid sense of humor that fits well with the subject matter of the book.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars READ CAPSTICK!! January 8, 2004

By Ryan McNabb

Format:Hardcover

There are adventure stories written by writers who were occasional adventurers (Conrad, Ruark, Hemingway), and there are adventure stories written by those who were only writers (Orwell, a million others,) and then there are a tiny number of adventure stories written by professional adventurers who also *luckily* happen to be brilliant writers. Peter Hathaway Capstick is the chief of this tribe, which includes John Taylor and a couple of others. This is a general review of all his writing, and so I won't get too specific, but it isn't a stretch at all to say that this is the finest, most exciting, most frightening, most eloquent writing ever done on the hunting experience, on hunting in Africa, and perhaps on what happens at that moment when man "goes back on the menu" after being off of it for a measley thousand years or so.

Capstick was a stock broker turned hunting organizer turned (through a curcuitous route) to being a PH or professional hunter in Africa, and then had the skill and the will to set it all down. I have never had more riveting reading experiences than when he tells of having to shoot a big bull elephant (driven mad drunk after eating morula fruit) in bush so thick that he was actually 5 feet from the elephant before he saw it. Or of his friend Corporal Katwindi, the African tribesman who was killed trying to save his life. Or of stalking a black mamba that had killed a boy. This particular story includes the three most chilling words I've read in a long time: as he comes around a bend in the river bank, he sees the dead child (bitten on the lower lip) horribly swollen and disfigured, his face contorted in agony from the mamba bite. "Oh my, yes." Capstick says, and nothing else need be said. He was there, at that point where the line between life and death gets so horribly thin and transparent, and he's able to come back from it and tell it to you so that you feel the same goose flesh he felt, the same clutching fear, the same doubt about your courage, the same desire to run screaming back to your office job.

You'll laugh, too. "There may be something more exciting than lion hunting, but I don't have her phone number any more." Or the story of the African camp steward who had slavishly dedicated himself to learning English to impress the clients, (by overhearing phrases and memorizing their meanings) and while wearing a crisp starched uniform, snaps to a British salute in front of the distinguished safari couple and tells the lady "Tea is ready, darling." His ability to find, and bring back, wonderful humor from gruelling experiences, like when his skin basically rotted off his feet during the rainy season, will not soon be forgotten.

One of the most memorable aspects of his writing is his deep respect and affection for the African natives that he admired so much, and the few that he was proud to call his friends. He is quick to point out that any perceived inadequacies on their part are strictly cultural, not racial, and he was in awe of their abilities in their world. One old man could not, for the life of him, to save his soul, be taught how to flick a disposable cigarette lighter so that it would light. The little thumb roll that we do without thinking completely evaded him. His hands just wouldn't do it, couldn't do it. So he stuck it in his ear hole. This same man could smell elephants miles away and could track game over bare rock, could look at a broken leaf and tell what animal did it and when, leaving Capstick in awe. As impossible as the lighter was to him, this incredible oneness with the natural world was ultimately impossible for Capstick, and for us all.

That's enough for now. If you are reading this review, you probably already have one or more of PHC's books. But if, on the off chance, you don't, then do yourself a favor and get as many as you can, and I dare you to try to put them down. They are that good. Better literature than Hemingway? Probably not. Probably not as profound as Ruark. But he has them all trumped when your knuckles are white with fear, and beads of sweat pop out on your brow, and you try to remember...did I chamber one, or not? And there's a soft crunch in the leaves ahead, and then we're back to what is most elemental: predator and prey, and which of us is which is entirely up for grabs.

Thanks, Peter. Gone but not forgotten.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Death in the Long Grass December 22, 1999

By Mike DiSalvo

Format:Hardcover

Capstick invokes the feeling of sitting around the campfire listening to stories. He tells a story the way way Monet painted, full of color and brilliance. His stories make you feel the sun beating down on you,and hear the tiny rustle of the long grass that means a charge. When you read his book(s) your not going to feel like you reading, you'll feel like your there. No one has ever written better on hunting in Africa, not Ruark or Hemingway, I know I have a 250 volume collection of African hunting books dating from 1890 to 1999. Trust me buy this book for anyone who hunts or has thought of hunting, you will not regret it. How good is this book? I've had 5 copies of it, the 1st 2 paperbacks were read till they fell apart.