Meat Eater
Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter
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4.5 • 471 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of Netflix’s MeatEater comes “a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from” (Anthony Bourdain).
“Revelatory . . . With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson, and a cooking lesson. . . . Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.”—The New York Times Book Review
Meat Eater chronicles Steven Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of ten hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age ten and ending as a thirty-seven-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska.
A thrilling storyteller, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as consumers lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. The result is a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are—as humans and as Americans.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rinella (American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon) chronicles his evolution as a hunter (and trapper and fisherman) from shooting squirrels with a BB gun during his Michigan childhood to hunting deer in "the wildest corner of the Wild West" or tracking Dall sheep in the mountains of Alaska, while his wife and son are home in the civilized environs of New York City. Woven into Rinella's thoughtful prose detailing his outdoor adventures (or misadventures, in some cases) are historical, ecological, or technical observations dealing with the landscape, the animals, or the manner in which the game is harvested. Also, almost every chapter is finished with short "Tasting Notes" that outline the culinary dos and don'ts for meat from game like squirrel, black bear, and mountain lion. Rinella has a passion for hunting and wilderness that comes across in his writing, and even if you don't agree with his ideas on hunting lions with dogs or catch-and-release fishing you can't help pondering the arguments he makes. And that seems to be the point of the book, to make you think about your relationship with nature, about what you eat and why you eat it and if that's Rinella's motivation, this book succeeds. B&w photos.
Customer Reviews
I read it twice in a row.
This book is exactly what you want I’m a hunting story. Steven Rinella’s writing is generational, & something I will share with my grandchildren one day.
Incredible
I’m from the western part of Colorado and I’ve been around hunting all my life and never thought much of the activity. Since watching Meat Eater on Netflix I have been absolutely fascinated with the history and the question and answers that come with hunting. Steve Rinella is amazing at fueling my understanding and desire to know more. This book is nothing less and even more than what I expected from him. A fantastic guy and a fantastic book. Even if you don’t enjoy the concept of hunting of have some kind of distain for the sport and those who partake, read this book. Not to change you mind but to grow in knowledge and understanding of the hunters mind and the reason conservationist like Steve Rinella do what they do. And if you’re a hunter and haven’t bought this book yet, what are you doing?! It’s Fantastic!
FANTASTIC
Invaluable information, stories that make you feel like you’re there, and a true outdoorsman.
I wish it were longer. Onto the next book!