Red Blood: One (Mostly) White Guy's Encounters with the Native World [Hardcover]

Robert Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 29, 2000

Robert Hunter's courageous activism as a founder of the Greenpeace movement (and the man behind the Rainbow Warrior theme) often placed him shoulder-to-shoulder with Native peoples fighting the same "good fight" on behalf of Mother Earth. In Red Blood, this straight-talking storyteller takes readers along for a wild ride as he recounts some of his most dramatic escapades in the fight for social and environmental justice.

Hunter's adventures include a spectacular (and at times hilarious) Caribbean journey aboard the Sea Shepherd II with a group of British Columbian Indian chiefs. Their mission: intercept the Columbus 500-year commemorative fleet of 1992 and, with cameras rolling, extract an official apology from Spain for the resulting centuries of unfair treatment of indigenous peoples. Hunter also describes a ceremony in which he was adopted as an honorary Brother of the Kwakiutl; a transforming experience in a Cree sweat lodge; and a tense sacred powwow with radicals of the Native movement.

From the profound to the profane, from the horrific to the ridiculous, Hunter relates his experiences with humor, vividness, and an appealing honesty that spares no one, least of all himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Where does an aging ex-environmental activist like Hunter go when depression hits? To the forest to lie down naked, put a gun to his head and wait for a bullet or a vision. Lucky for both Hunter and his readers, the vision arrived first, in the form of a huge, eardrum-splitting Boeing 747. This is only one of many rollicking good tales found in this zany memoir by the co-founder of Greenpeace, who's also the man behind the ecological Rainbow Warrior theme. Early in the environmental movement of the 1970s, Hunter aligned himself with dispossessed Native Americans, and only learned later of his great-grandmother's Cree blood. No New Age wannabe, the author is a sometimes sober eco-journalist burdened with a nonviolent philosophy, an active conscience, a clear eye and a devilish sense of humor. When Spain sends off three ships in 1992 to commemorate Columbus's voyage, Hunter joins a group of British Columbian Indians in an effort to intercept the vessels and extract an apology for what many Native Americans view as the destruction of their indigenous culture. What follows is an exhilarating romp through the Caribbean, with his stoically seasick Native companions and a fearless captain known for ramming boats, that ends in a white-knuckled game of chicken with a heavily armed Spanish frigate. In his final chapters, Hunter takes a more serious and introspective look at the violent side of political activism, and doesn't like what he sees. This is gonzo journalism at its best, conveying the wonder, horror and weirdness of life, and suffused with appealing, self-deprecating humor. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

At age 18, Hunter, cofounder of Greenpeace, went winter camping in the Canadian woods and would have frozen to death if a Huron Indian hadn't appeared as though in answer to a prayer. Once Hunter became active in the radical environmental movement, similarly serendipitous and propitious meetings with Native Americans continued to occur at key moments, a boon he links to his mother's Indian heritage. Musings on the consequences of his identification with Indians serve as the connecting tissue in this dramatic, rambling, idiosyncratic, and self-critical look back at the dawn of Greenpeace and at Hunter's own evolution as an environmentalist. Readers new to eco-warrior undertakings won't grasp the context for his flinty reminiscences, but those in the know will find Hunter's chronicling of death-defying protests against nuclear testing, whaling, and drift-net fishing galvanizing; his frenetic account of the meeting between Native Americans and Spanish officials aboard a replica of the Santa Maria unforgettable; and his frankness regarding power struggles among eco-activists and his own ambivalence provocative. Donna Seaman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books for Children (February 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578050480
• ISBN-13: 978-1578050482
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,490,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Writing From One Of The Founding Elders Of Greenpeace, March 23, 2000

By 

Cactus Ed (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Blood: One (Mostly) White Guy's Encounters with the Native World (Hardcover)

I am one of those "older environmental extremists" who well remembers Bob Hunter and the original (and best!) gang of Greenpeacers from Canada. In fact, it was a picture of Bob Hunter and Paul Watson in a Zodiac zooming in front of a Soviet whaling boat's harpoon cannon that awakened me to environmental activism. That was 1975, and Bob has been one of my heroes ever since. He was There, man! I actually got to work for Greenpeace in 1977 and was fortunate enough to meet Bob; in fact we shared a few beers and a few joints in the back of my van at a Save The Whales rally. Great Guy! Since then I have found and read all of his books - man can that guy write! Funny as hell, real enjoyable reading. I would like all current "Greenpeace" staff and members to read this great new book, to learn about their roots and the Elders. Great to have you back in print, Bob!