The Goshawk [Paperback]

T. H. White (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wilder Places | Publication Date: March 1, 1996

The Goshawk chronicles a concentrated duel between the author and a great hawk. It is the journal of an intense clash of wills - during the bird's training - in which the pride and endurance of the wild raptor are worn down by the insistent willpower of the falconer. The story is by turns comic and tragic - and it is all-absorbing. (5 1/2 X 8 1/4, 222 pages, diagrams)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reprinted, White's 1951 book on falconry details the battle of wills between the author and the hawk he is trying to train.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Sports such as ferreting and falconry show the extent to which people are prepared to risk pain and injury in order to enter the world of other species. The arduous experience of training a falcon to accept a person as a perch forms the character both of the bird and its keeper. The experience has been vividly described by TH White in The Goshawk and no reader of that book can doubt that country sports are as unlike human games as wine is unlike water. They do not satisfy some ordinary need for exercise and diversion, any more than wine quenches thirst. They answer to a deeper yearning and intoxicate us with the scent of other worlds. They open a door into the natural life of species: not the pretend life that is imposed on the domestic pet, but the real life that was ordained by nature. Hence the ritual and hence the joy. These sports are genuine rites of passage, which guide us into the world of other animals and help us to know it from within, as a world of instinct, awe and miracles." --The Observer

“The book chronicles the ambivalent relationship between White, author of The Once and Future King, and the hawk he trained. Their battle of wills ‘gives the book its peculiar charm.’” –The New York Times

"It is comic; it is tragic; it is as primal and original as a great wind…it must be ranked as a masterpiece." –Guy Ramsey, Daily Telegraph (UK)

"A reader who cannot tell a hawk from a handsaw may be swept along by the storm of emotion which blows between the man and his bird, and by the freedom and richness of the romantic treatment of the variations." –Lord Kennet, Sunday Times (UK)

“The arduous experience of training a falcon to accept a person as a perch forms the character both of the bird and its keeper. The experience has been vividly described by TH White in The Goshawk…” –The Guardian (UK)

“What one man discovered about hawks, and himself, when he set out to learn the medieval art of hawking.” –Time Magazine, “Recent and Readable”

A “wonderful, classic account of training a bird of prey.” –The Daily Mail

“It’s a strange, eccentric book about [T. H. White’s] attempt to train his first goshawk. It displays an absolute love for the English countryside that I immediately recognized.” –The Mail on Sunday (UK)

“In his 1996 introduction, Stephen Bodio writes: ‘This is a book about excruciatingly bad falconry. It is the best book on falconry, its feel, its emotions, and its flavor, ever written.’ Those oddly juxtaposed statements are exactly on the mark. A classic.” –The Buffalo News

“This is a nature classic, conceived against the background of the second World War…a warm and instructive story.” –Sunday Times (UK) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558214356
• ISBN-13: 978-1558214354
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,724,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book., November 28, 1997

By 

Dale Ward "wlaurie2" (Fort Collins, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Goshawk (Paperback)

Mr. White describes his experiences with training a goshawk for falconry. He has no guidance beyond an ancient manuscript and things go horribly awry. An outstanding book, a pleasure to read. Also an example of why current US regulations require a falconry apprenticeship period.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Pleasure, January 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Goshawk (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book to anyone, even those with no interest at all in falconry. The author is so skilled and talented that I'd say that he could write an entertaining piece about paint drying. Enjoy!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, February 1, 2008

By 

Beatrix Potter (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Goshawk (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

As a fan of The Once and Future King as well as falconry, I couldn't wait to start reading this book. It is an absolute gem. White's descriptions are extremely vivid. No one should be daunted by the fact that this book was penned in '51 or that it is about falconry; his story is immensely (and enjoyably) readable.