Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

This is an outstanding book written by a man who is extraordinarily comfortable in his own skin, yet extraordinarily uncomfortable in modern society. Peacock is a man who can write lyrically and genuinely about the wilderness, who can stand tall while staring a grizzly in the eyes, and yet who can't attend a party, or walk through a city, or even meet an innocuous stranger who has expressed an interest in chatting with him. I've read a few other books by people who share Peacock's gruff no-compromise attitude when it comes to environmental protection, and have been really bothered by the sense that they seem to have formed a "we understand nature and you don't" club that excludes most of the environmental movement. Authors Gary Ferguson and Rick Bass (who spent some wilderness time with Peacock) have managed to make this model of environmental conservation seem childish and churlish. But Peacock, who is basically writing the same argument, gives this idea wings on which we soar. Peacock is brutally honest about himself, and about how his war experiences in Vietnam shattered his soul and left him thrashing about the country in a state of spiritual agony. When he relates a story about becoming frustrated with a payphone operator, and then taking out a shotgun and blowing the telephone to bits, we know that he's not billing himself as a healthy individual. This honesty lets us see the genuine love that Peacock has for nature in general and grizzly bears in particular. He is well-versed in the scientific side of environmental preservation, and gives us plenty to chew on as far as the good and bad of the institutions that are involved with grizzly bear issues. But his most compelling, unique contributions come when he is alone in the wild, stalking grizzly bears carrying nothing but photography equipment and a knife, with which he is prepared to defend himself to the death. This is a great book for the environmental movement, and deserves a unique place in that broad and cluttered field. You should definitely read this book if you're an environmentalist. More importantly, you should give it to someone who is not an environmentalist, even someone who is against environmentalism. Peacock has a way of framing the issues in a way that even a republican will love and understand. His individualistic approach and character are the antithesis of the characterization of environmentalists that the right has been pushing for the last forty years.

I came across this book after hiking in Glacier NP and seeing a griz, and stopping in Cody Wy and hearing about a griz sighting there. Other reviews describing this gem are accurate, but I have to say that Peacock is a man whose contribution to grizzly awareness will not be surpassed. I have read this several times, along with Ghost Grizzlies, by Petersen; Lost Grizzlies, by Rick Bass(possibly the best outdoor writer since Thoreau); and The Abstract Wild, by Turner. Each of these is important and all of them are must reads.No one will ever come close to duplicating the type of life Peacock has led; this tells of an odyssey that is heroic.We just don't get to know people like him, because he hasn't got time for us.Too bad he hasn't written more. I would give this 10 stars if I could.........

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!

Rather than heap more deserved praise upon Peacock's searingly personal account of his experiences with North America's largest carnivore, I thought it more useful to offer a suggestion for those people wanting more. Rick Bass' _The Lost Grizzlies_ is as close to a sequel as one is likely to find, even featuring Peacock himself in the narrative. (Ed Abbey's truck shows up too!)

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.