Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness [Paperback]

Doug Peacock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1996

For nearly twenty years, alone and unarmed, author Doug Peacock traversed the rugged mountains of Montana and Wyoming tracking the magnificent grizzly. His thrilling narrative takes us into the bear's habitat, where we observe directly this majestic animal's behavior, from hunting strategies, mating patterns, and denning habits to social hierarchy and methods of communication. As Peacock tracks the bears, his story turns into a thrilling narrative about the breaking down of suspicion between man and beast in the wild.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Doug Peacock, the model for the George Hayduke of Edward Abbey's novels The Monkey Wrench Gang and Hayduke Lives!, served two tours of duty in Vietnam as a Green Beret medic, ministering to the Montagnard and Hre peoples of the highlands while trying to jump over the bullets that rang around him. When he returned home, as he writes, "I retreated to the woods and pushed my mind toward sleep with cheap wine." In those woods he found grizzly bears, and among them he shook off memories of war. In the pages of this memoir, recounting what has now been Peacock's many years among them, the bears of Montana come to life. They find an eloquent protector here.

From Publishers Weekly

Returning from the war in Vietnam, Peacock sought solitude and peace of mind in the wilderness. Grizzly bears, he writes, saved his life; now he is committed to their survival. From the late '60s through the '80s, he followed and filmed these animals in an attempt to assemble a collective portrait of all grizzlies south of Canada. Traveling on foot through trailless areas of Glacier and Yellowstone parks and into the Southwest desert and Mexico, he observed the bears feeding, denning and playing. While one of the grizzlies' attractions for Peacock is their unpredictability, he discusses attacks and offers practical advice on safety. This is natural history writing of a high order and should help campers to overcome their fears of these animals.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; First Edition edition (April 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805045430
• ISBN-13: 978-0805045437
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Bears

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There are few like him anymore., August 4, 2001

By 

Frank Bierbrauer (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness (Paperback)

My interest was piqued by Jack Turner's "Abstract Wild" which stands alone as the most intense and vital book written on the experience of wildness. From Turner's comments I ventured to buy a copy of Peacock's book "Grizzly Years" even after having read some of the negative comments I found in the reviews given. There is some truth to these comments but they are far outweiged by honesty and boldness of the experiences of Doug Peacock throughout his `Grizzly Years' which of course are not simply the years Peacock spent studying and living near Grizzlies but rather the years of his own transformation from out of the nightmare that was the Vietnam War. I don't think it is an accident that as one proceeds through the book, which is interspersed with Vietnam war experiences, these experiences no longer command the full attention of Peacock as his healing takes place. More and more he assumes the life of a person living in the moment and can pass by the old nightmares for the realness of his life now. No doubt writing this book itself was a part of his cleaning out process and the leaving behind of past lives because they are no longer necessary. Rather than being excerpts to attract or hold the attention they are an integral part of the story, first the very real and immensly powerful experience of combat and the ever present horror of suffering which is always there confronting him, making his life moments which are full of life or death and nothing in between. Peacock came back no longer interested in anything except moment which involved life and death situations and the Grizzly offered just such an opportunity, being unpredictable, dangerous and fully capable of killing any human being, but choosing not to, the bears formed the backbone of his life for many years until gradually he found not only fear and danger and the vitality of life but also the beauty seemingly hidden in each moment no matter how perilous. Slowly Peacock finds his way back to earth so to speak and yet greatly transformed and his meeting Lisa, his wife to be, helped in the process.

Peacock talks of bears as they truly are, far from the attention seeking, sensationalistic presentations of some so called nature programs which concentrate on the alienation of people from nature rather than allowing for the linkage that can take place as the human being realises he is part of the whole, that is, part not a piece of. Peacock's honesty and forthrightness is impressive, Terry Tempest Williams knows what she is talking about when she says the book does not lie.

Unlike some who attempt to make the animal into some sort of cute creature to be oggled at and petted Peacock never forgets the bears are other and yet not altogether that different, he gives them the freedom to be themselves not only by being as inconspicuous as he can but also in his own mind.

There are few like him anymore.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I did not want this book to end! Beyond Terrific!!!!, September 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness (Paperback)

After reading so much of Edward Abby, I discovered this book through a friend and after two years, I still thank him for telling me about The Grizzly Years. Doug Peacock's writing was not only captivating and inspiring, it was also picturesque. Mr. Peacock, I know nothing about you really, but should you ever read this be happy to know that there are a lot of river guides, wildlife biologists, and mountain guides working in the wilderness in central Idaho that have seen Grizzly and have read your book and appreciate you, your books, the bears, and your attitude. Thank you!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I met and was fascinated by the man before I read the book., October 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness (Paperback)

I met Doug Peacock when he was a guest speaker at the Telluride Colorado Mushroom festival. This may seem like an odd venue for an author whose subject is grizzly bears, but when you have heard his stories of survival in the wilderness, part of which involved wild mushrooms, it no longer seems so bizarre. Peacock's dedication to knowing the grizzly is all-encompassing, and it is plain that without an extensive understanding of the natural world he would not have been able to get as close to his subject as he did. He is comparable to Jane Goodall and her relationship to chimpanzees, though the nature of the grizzly does somewhat preclude the intimacy Goodall had with chimps. Peacock got as close to grizzlys as a human can without changing places in the food chain, and just barely at that. This man carries an aura of intensity unlike any I've ever encountered. He knows whereof he speaks, at a level so much deeper than most people will ever encounter that it is impossible to ignore him. He is driven from such a fundamental level that it is obvious that he has no agenda other than understanding. Read and learn.