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Book Cover for: Wahb: The Biography of a Grizzly, Ernest Thompson Seton

Wahb: The Biography of a Grizzly

Ernest Thompson Seton

Winner:National Outdoor Book Awards -Classic (2015)

First published more than a century ago, The Biography of a Grizzly recounts the life of a fictitious bear named Wahb who lived and died in the Greater Yellowstone region. This new edition combines Ernest Thompson Seton's classic tale and original illustrations with historical and scientific context for Wahb's story, providing a thorough understanding of the setting, cultural connections, biology, and ecology of Seton's best-known book.

By the time The Biography of a Grizzly was published in 1900, grizzly bears had been hunted out of much of their historical range in North America. The characterization of Wahb, along with Seton's other anthropomorphic tales of American wildlife, helped to change public perceptions and promote conservation. As editors Jeremy M. Johnston and Charles R. Preston remind us, however, Seton's approach to writing about animals put him at the center of the "Nature-Faker" controversy of the early twentieth century, when John Burroughs and Theodore Roosevelt, among others, denounced sentimental representations of wildlife.

The editors address conservation scientists' continuing concerns about inaccurate depictions of nature in popular culture. Despite its anthropomorphism, Seton's paradoxical book imparts a good deal of insightful and accurate natural history, even as its exaggerations shaped early-twentieth-century public opinion on conservation in often counterproductive ways. By complicating Seton's enthralling tale with scientific observations of grizzly behavior in the wild, Johnston and Preston evaluate the story's accuracy and bring the story of Yellowstone grizzlies into the present day.

Preserving the 1900 edition's original design and illustrations, Wahb brings new understanding to an American classic, updating the book for current and future generations.

Book Details

  • Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
  • Publish Date: Aug 26th, 2015
  • Pages: 240
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.90in - 5.20in - 0.90in - 0.70lb
  • EAN: 9780806150826
  • Categories: Animals - MammalsAnimals - BearsLife Sciences - Zoology - Mammals

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About the Author

Preston, Charles R.: - Charles R. Preston is the Willis McDonald, IV, Senior Curator of Natural Science at the Draper Natural History Museum, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, in Cody, Wyoming. His publications include Golden Eagle: Sovereign of the Skies (with G. Leppart, photographer) and An Expedition Guide to the Nature of Yellowstone and the Draper Museum of Natural History.
Seton, Ernest Thompson: - Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946) was a British-born author, wildlife artist, cofounder of the Boy Scouts of America, and an early pioneer of the modern school of animal fiction writing whose best-known book is Wild Animals I Have Known.

More books by Ernest Thompson Seton

Book Cover for: Boy Scouts of America Official Handbook: Original Edition, Robert S. S. Baden-Powell
Book Cover for: The Gospel of the Red Man: An Indian Bible, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Wild Animals I Have Known (Yesterday's Classics), Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Wild Animals I Have Known, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: The Book Of Woodcraft And Indian Lore (Legacy Edition): A Classic Manual On Camping, Scouting, Outdoor Skills, Native American History, And Nature Fro, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: The Boy Scouts Original 1910 Handbook: The Early-Version Temporary Manual For Use During The First Year Of The Boy Scouts, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Selected Stories of Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Wild Animals I Have Known: Illustrated Edition, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: The Big Book of Country Living, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Wild animals I have known, and 200 drawings. By: Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Woodland tales. By: Ernest Thompson Seton. / with 100 drawings by the autors /, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Rolf in the Woods, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Two Little Savages - Being the Adventures of Two Boys who Lived as Indians and What They Learned, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Big Book of Country Living, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Boy Scouts of America: A Handbook of Woodcraft Scouting, and Life-craft, Ernest Thompson Seton
Book Cover for: Boy scouts of America: a handbook of woodcraft scouting, and life-craft, Ernest Thompson Seton

Praise for this book

"The tale of Wahb has been a classic of 'Yellowstonia' since the book was first published in 1900. In a 1903 magazine, journalist Ray Stannard Baker included a drawing of a lady tourist on a Yellowstone stagecoach reading a copy of the book. Jeremy Johnston and Charles Preston have done us a favor by making Seton's timeless story available again, this time accompanied by the relevant discussions of nature fakers and evolving science that are so important to appreciating the work."--Lee Whittlesey, Historian, Yellowstone National Park