The Ben Lilly Legend (Paperback)

~ J. Frank Dobie (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Ben Lilly Legend brings back to life a great American hunter--the greatest bear hunter in history after Davy Crockett, by his own account and also by the record. Here are all the stories Ben Lilly told and a great many more Frank Dobie heard about him, put together in a fresh and fascinating contribution to American folklore.

Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292707282
• ISBN-13: 978-0292707283
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #444,457 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best source on the 20th century's greatest outdo, November 20, 1997

By A Customer

Ben Lilly lived in the wild, and he was as wild as the predators he hunted. No animal in the woods was more at home than the bearded, eccentric Ben Lilly. He and his hounds never slept in a house for over 40 years. A grim destroyer of bears and mtn lions, working with an Old Testament fervor? Or a keen observer of nature, a naturalist that benefitted modern science and a pioneer of game management? A little of both perhaps, but doubtless the greatest bear and lion biologists of our day could learn much if able to sit at Mr. Lilly's campfire in the rugged Mogollon mtns of the Southwest. Lilly could have hunted with Bridger, Carson, Old Bill Williams and the best of them. No man is said to have matched his endurance, tracking skills or marksmanship. He lived into a modern age but remained as wild as the forest primeval.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ben Lilly Legend, November 22, 2001

By	willis richardson "[e-mail]" ([e-mail] in Oakley, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ben Lilly Legend (Hardcover)

I rank this book so highly as I do all such type of literature. It may not bring long philosophical answers but it does make us look at who would appear to the man on the street if he saw Ben Lilly as someone uneducated and ingnorant when he is quite the contrary. I spent a lot of time traveling the US and Europe years
ago and made it a point to stop and talk with people doing what might seem menial jobs. I talked with a gardner in Madrid near the Pardo Museum who had worked a rose garden all of his life, he was then eighty years old. Ben Lilly brings to life a person who lived in a time of interesting characters of this country. He reminds me of the early market hunters found on the east coast of this country. Do some research through the Georgia Historial Society in Savannah, Georgia. They provided fresh waterfowl and game for the local resturants. All of these men were of a unique and misunderstood nature. Ben Lilly was one of these men.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lilly was a facinating man, this book nailed him., February 18, 2009

By	Donald W. Smith "Mucasplug" (Southeast USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really enjoyed this read. Ben Lilly is an enigma. The book is well worth the money.