The Golden Enemy [Hardcover]

Alexander Key (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1969

The last bear in the world wants to destroy mankind because man killed his entire species for sport. A boy defies the advice of his elders to seek out the bear and communicate with it.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Westminster Press (1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 066432441X
• ISBN-13: 978-0664324414
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #949,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I saved this book for the child I hoped to have one day, May 4, 2007

By 

Dream Emporium Dot-Com "ZenCyn" (Charlottesville, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Golden Enemy (Hardcover)

When I was a kid, I read this book and although I lived through a terrible incident at the time, this book was so gripping and the message so intriguing & powerful that I was transported to another world, another land, another way of life. Wow! I re-read this book countless times, and it inspired me enough that I saved it for the child I hoped to have one day, and is my favorite Alexander Key book, although I also loved The Forgotten Door and Escape From Witch Mountain (much better than the movie, by the way). I only saved maybe 5 books, and this is my #1 favorite of all the books I read in childhood.

This book is so incredibly effective in showing how prejudices can begin & get out of hand; and yet there is only one way out of prejudice and that is through understanding what the other is going through. The drama with which Alexander Key sets the stage for this story to be told was very exciting and emotional for me to read as a child. I remember reading it with a flashlight under the covers, unable to stop reading it. How well I remember the emotion of joy with the ending, yet sadness to read the last sentence and know this wonderful tale was finished by me.

I hope that this book will keep circulating and getting the attention it deserves.

Baseline story: The Golden Enemy is a gigantic bear of a species that has been killed by humans. There is only one left, and it is being hunted relentlessly by the humans remaining. The boy in the story, a teenager, rides his hovercraft around the planet hunting this bear, intending to kill it because of what happened to his family. They communicate telepathically, with hatred and sadness being their first messages. By the end of the book, this is all transformed in a way that opens one's mind to the possibilities of living in a world without prejudice. It transformed my thinking forever, in a very positive way.

The fact that Alexander Key could take such a "heavy" topic and spin it into a superb story that keeps one on the edge of their seat is remarkable.

By the way: years later, my son read this book. He also loved it and re-read it often, and it now sits on his shelf, being saved for the child he hopes to have one day...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love Key's worlds., October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Golden Enemy (Hardcover)

He creates beautiful worlds--yet, underneath the beauty, the realization that its fate rests on the human race who may abuse it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gripping novel for older children, February 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Golden Enemy (Hardcover)

Reading this novel as a child I couldn't put it down. The interaction between humans and the natural world had a strong influence on my future thinking about our own planet and how we treat it. The character development is excellent for this level of writing and children will be able to easily identify themselves with the main protaganists. I would strongly recommend it to others-- if they can find it.