The Essential Grizzly: The Mingled Fates of Men and Bears (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Andrea Peacock (Author) "The big bear moves through the shadows cast by wedges of spruce boughs now fading against the darkening sky..." (more)
Key Phrases: grizzly family, moth sites, other grizzlies, Black Grizzly, Chocolate Legs, Glacier National Park (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is the finest kind of writing about the natural world, where the authors are able to shed their own egos and build a deeply moving, deeply real account of what our world must feel like to its wildest inhabitants. The grizzly is essential, and so is this book." --Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: A Slightly More Hopeful Version of What Comes Next
 "In this riveting work, the Peacocks convincingly show how America’s greatest carnivore connects Americans to their culture, their history, their humanity, and the values we most treasure." --Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "No one has ever explored so deeply and so beautifully the heart and soul of the matter—the intricate life force of our own species' complicated and in many ways tragic relationship with this grand predator. Peacock and his wife Andrea have written the definitive book on the subject. I wish everyone in America, and especially our so-called 'leaders,' would read this wonderful book." --Jim Fergus, author of One Thousand White Women and The Wild Girl
 "Doug Peacock has taught me a lot about how to deal with the wily griz – be humble, talk to him respectfully, and don’t sing country western. The Peacocks’ new book is an essential read for anyone who wants to get into the mind of these alpha predators."--Yvon Chouinard, owner of Patagonia Inc. "This is a book about total immersion and full participation in life, about open-mindedness and openheartedness, but don't read it unless you are hospitable to the notion that large, fierce animals should live free in the wilderness nearest you, even if they eat your cat." --Michael Soulé, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Santa Cruz “A wonderful compilation of grizzly myth and lore, modern field biology and conservation, ecopolitics and ethics, interview and personal insight—all of it firmly grounded in experience in the field and an unsentimental love for this awesome animal. Indispensable.” –Peter Matthiessen, author of The Snow Leopard "Like Peter Matthiessen, Peacock writes about the natural world with a novelist's eye and sensibility." --Philip Caputo "Doug Peacock has written about his grizzly bears with a passionate and unguarded heart." --Jim Harrison "The book is a clear-eyed, non-romanticized look at these amazing animals, their lives and the realities of bear-human interactions." --The Arizona Republic

“..an impassioned exploration of ‘how the great bear prowls the landscape of the contemporary mind’..”-- Outside Magazine “a welcome addition to an already extensive literature about bears. …a clear-eyed, non-romanticized look at these amazing animals…”-- Arizona Republic
 "Our list of Cool Stuff”-- Backpacker Magazine


   
 
 

In praise of Grizzly Years:

"Peacock is a wonderful writer, a naturalist with a novelist's sensitivity and eye. I found myself holding my breath at the close encounters he relates."--Chicago Tribune

"Doug Peacock has written about his grizzly bears with a passionate and unguarded heart. Grizzly Years is ultimately a love story about a man who returns from war shorn of his soul, and recovers his soul through his efforts to study and protect the grandest predator on earth, Ursus horribilis. I cannot imagine that a more worthwhile book will be printed this year."--Jim Harrison

"Grizzly Years is an exciting natural history and, more important, a striking metaphor in its impassioned outcry against senseless waste of life on earth--human life included. "--Peter Matthiessen

"Grizzly Years belongs to a genre of literature written for the soul. Doug Peacock writes with great heart, eloquence, and verge. He calls for a revolution of the spirit through an immersion in the natural world. I believe him, he is trustworthy. This book does not lie."--Terry Tempest Williams

"It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a book so much. It is the saga of one man's spiritual rebirth through contact with wild nature and the primitive American landscape. Like Peter Matthiessen, Peacock writes about the natural world with a novelist's eye and sensibility."--Philip Caputo

Product Description

The most comprehensive and assiduous chronicle of human-grizzly bear interactions ever written.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; Second printing edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592288480
• ISBN-13: 978-1592288489
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #480,257 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing, May 20, 2006

By	Linda J. Hunter - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

. . a breath of fresh air for those of us interested in bears and their fate. Shake off the heavy coat of mind boggling conflicting advice about how to act in bear country and read Doug Peacock's book. He tells it to you straight. "Don't travel into grizzly country reeking of bad karma or old tuna fish." This book leaves others behind with new knowledge and experiences unwritten to date. Doug and Andrea go straight to the heart of the problems and joys of having gizzlies on earth and exhibit hope that people can learn how to behave before we kill or love all the bears to death.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peacock is the ticket, June 11, 2006

By	Ikkyu Jones (cyber-void) - See all my reviews

Doug Peacock knows more about grizzly bears than the next 10 writers combined. If you want jive-Hollywood-stories, read the other books. If you're interested in the real thing, go for Peacock. And for Edward Abbey fans, Doug's "Walking It Off" is a must read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Viewpoint!, November 9, 2006

By	Mark A. Dewar (Scituate, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book opens your mind to the necessity of the grizzly in our ecosystem. I learned alot about the behaviour and habits of the grizzly and how to prepare yourself in their world. A must read book.