A Whale Hunt: How a Native-American Village Did What No One Thought It Could [Paperback]

Robert Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2002

For centuries the hunting of the whale was what defined the Makah, a Native American tribe in Neah Bay, but when commercial whaling drove the gray whale to near extinction in the 1920s, the Makah voluntarily discontinued their tradition and hung up their harpoons. In 1994, after the gray whale was taken off the endangered species list, the Makah decided to hunt again. The problem was that all the old whalers were dead -- no one knew how to go about hunting a whale.

A Whale Hunt chronicles the two years Robert Sullivan spends with the Makah as they prepare for and stage the first hunt. Combating tribal infighting and inexperience, they must also face passionate, furious animal rights activists and swarming reporters. Before the ragtag group of hunters even pursues a whale, there are clashes, disappointments, and defeats, small triumphs and unexpected heroes.

A book of many layers and revelations, A Whale Hunt is the story of the demise and attempted resurrection of a Native American nation and of the individuals on the reservation whose lives are forever changed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1999, a small armada of animal rights activists, TV crews and Coast Guard ships swarmed around a canoe off the coast of Washington State carrying seven Makah Indians as they hunted and killed a gray whale for the first time in living memory. The activists were attempting to halt the slaughter of an animal only recently removed from the endangered species list, while the Makahs were reviving a whaling tradition that had been dormant for generations. For visiting journalist Sullivan (who made a splash last year with his quirky natural and social history of The Meadowlands of New Jersey), it was an irresistible story. SullivanDwho writes like a hipper, edgier William Least Heat Moon and spent two years with the MakahDgives a kind of outsider's insider view of the hunt's preparation and aftermath, from the private anxieties of the tribespeople to the external pressure from the U.S. government, which insisted that the whale be killed "humanely" with a bullet in the brain immediately after the harpoon strike. He also provides funny commentary on subjects like neighboring Seattle ("a city filled with people who walk around in technologically advanced outdoor fabrics") and the too-easily ridiculed animal rights protesters. But Sullivan never quite communicates why the whale hunt was so important to him personally, or what it really meant to the Makah themselves. Did they actually hope to restore tribal heritage and pride? Or were they merely aiming to get rich by selling whale meat to the Japanese, as the animal rights protestors alleged? Sullivan mostly ducks these questions, which may disappoint those who come to this wry and sympathetic account for a hard-hitting look at the issues it raises, rather than to ride along with its engaging author. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The Makah are a Native American tribe living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. The gray whale is a migratory cetacean, hunted for generations by the Makah and other coastal tribes until it was nearly driven extinct by commercial whaling. A moratorium on all hunting of the gray whale was declared, and the Makah had not hunted whales in 70 years. In 1995 the gray whale was taken off the endangered species list, and the Makah began a legal battle to resume whaling. There was only one problem: all of the old whalers were dead, and the tribe had to reinvent the techniques and traditions of whaling. Sullivan, a former newspaper reporter, spent two years with the Makah as they built a whaling canoe, chose and trained a crew, and taught themselves how to catch and kill a 35-45 foot sea mammal. Along the way, animal-rights activists, the Coast Guard, a German film crew, other Native Americans, and a fleet of reporters get involved, so that by the time the Makah hunters try for their first whale a fullfledged media circus is well underway, with the hunts and the reactions of the protestors being carried on live TV. Sullivan's wry reporting, with sympathy for all of the participants in the hunt (including the whales), puts the reader right into the midst of the action. No matter where one stands on the subject of aboriginal whaling rights, this book will be fascinating reading. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684864347
• ISBN-13: 978-0684864341
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Natural Resources > Fisheries & Aquaculture
  • #38 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems
  • #97 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Oceans & Seas

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Memento, October 30, 2000

By 

Tor Parker (Port Angeles, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Whale Hunt (Hardcover)

I read this book completely ignoring the footnotes that continually compares the parallels to the book Mobey Dick. I was literally in the middle of some of the events leading up to and following the whale hunt, and to see someone capture it and write about it so visually was terrific. There are a few minor errors [Paul Parker was not a part of the crew, and Kleckoh means "Thankyou"], but overall Robert Sullivan conveys a people geographically isolated, rising above the family and tribal bickerings, protesters, personal battles and ocean to bring us a whale we waited more than 75 years for. Even knowing how the book ended I couldn't put it down until it was finished!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a serious page-turner, October 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Whale Hunt (Hardcover)

What a riveting story this book tells. It's about a tribe of American Indians in the Pacific Northwest who are trying to make a comeback against great odds, trying to reconnect with an ancestral tradition that none of them has witnessed, and doing so amid a swirl of eco-controversy. I got so wrapped up in the lives of the people the author depicts, and the breathtaking land- and seascapes in which the drama unfolds, that it was only after I finished the book that I paused to reflect what a virtuoso prose stylist Robert Sullivan is. He uses a variety of rhetorical approaches to bring out the full complexity of the situation he's describing. This book is both fun and profound, if that makes sense: wistful, weird, quintessentially American.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Abstraction vs Native Reality, May 26, 2002

By 

Karen M. Rudolph (CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Whale Hunt (Hardcover)

I couldn't put this book down. It is simply the most honest book I have read about a modern Indian community. I am a white woman and I have been married into a Northwest Native fishing family for fifteen years. Sullivan doesn't romanticize the Indian people in his story but he obviously respects them. He sees their shortcomings but he does not judge them. Sullivan understands that no outsider can ever really know what treaty rights mean to Native Americans. Yet Sullivan takes the reader to the reservation and allows us to experience these tribal people as they live through a profound moment in their history. Every detail in this book rang true, even the fact that Mr. Watson, an anti-whaling protest leader, would claim to be adopted by the Oglala. I have run into many white people who believe that they know more about traditional Indian spirituality than actual Indians. The Makahs in this story don't fit anyones preconcieved ideas of how Indian people should act, feel, speak or pray. This book is about a complex and ambiguous reality. Without preaching, it shows how much we still can learn from Indian communities. I bought a number of copies to give to my friends.