Doug Peacock

“If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness.” Edward Abbey In a collection of gripping stories of adventure, Doug Peacock, loner, iconoclast, environmentalist, and contemporary of Edward Abbey, reflects on a life lived in the wild, asking the question many ask in their twilight years: “Was It Worth It?” Recounting sojourns with Abbey, but also Peter Matthiessen, Doug Tompkins, Jim Harrison, Yvon Chouinard and others, Peacock observes that what he calls “solitary walks” were the greatest currency he and his buddies ever shared. He asserts that “solitude is the deepest well I have encountered in this life,” and the introspection it affords has made him who he is: a lifelong protector of the wilderness and its many awe-inspiring inhabitants. With adventures both close to home (grizzlies in Yellowstone and jaguars in the high Sonoran Desert) and farther afield (tigers in Siberia, jaguars again in Belize, spirit bears in the wilds of British Columbia, all the amazing birds of the Galapagos), Peacock acknowledges that Covid 19 has put “everyone’s mortality in the lens now and it’s not necessarily a telephoto shot.” Peacock recounts these adventures to try to understand and explain his perspective on Nature: That wilderness is the only thing left worth saving. In the tradition of Peacock’s many best-selling books, Was It Worth It? is both entertaining and thought provoking. It challenges any reader to make certain that the answer to the question for their own life is “Yes!”

Peacock's eagerly awaited tale brings us epic personalities, grizzly bears, the trauma of war, and wilderness adventure. A former Green Beret medic in Vietnam, he was mythologised by Edward Abbey as George Washington Hayduke in his environmental classic, The Monkey Wrench Gang.Described by author David Quammen as "an iconic figure, a secular prophet, in the wildass American West", Peacock has become celebrated for his writing, in particular his book Grizzly Years, and his tireless struggle to help preserve what is wild both in and around us.

Very few of the 2.5 million people who visit Yellowstone National Park and who are awed by America's only continuously wild and genetically pure bison herd are aware that over the past decade, state and federal agencies have engaged in the wanton slaughter of 3,500 of these magnificent animals, solely because they wandered out of delineated confines of the National Park. Author Daniel Brister has dedicated his life to protecting the buffalo through field work and at every level of the policy arena. In the Presence of Buffalo was inspired by his desire to see the buffalo honored and respected and the slaughter stopped. This inspiring narrative weaves personal reflections and stories of the present-day buffalo slaughter with information gathered through historical, cultural, and scientific research. Five chapters and an appendix explore the relationship between human beings and bison, or buffalo, as they are popularly called in this country.

Very few of the 2.5 million people who visit Yellowstone National Park and who are awed by America's only continuously wild and genetically pure bison herd are aware that over the past decade, state and federal agencies have engaged in the wanton slaughter of 3,500 of these magnificent animals, solely because they wandered out of delineated confines of the National Park. Author Daniel Brister has dedicated his life to protecting the buffalo through field work and at every level of the policy arena. In the Presence of Buffalo was inspired by his desire to see the buffalo honored and respected and the slaughter stopped. This inspiring narrative weaves personal reflections and stories of the present-day buffalo slaughter with information gathered through historical, cultural, and scientific research. Five chapters and an appendix explore the relationship between human beings and bison, or buffalo, as they are popularly called in this country.

Winner of ForeWord Magazine's 2006 Gold Award for Nature Book of the Year The most comprehensive and compelling chronicle of human–grizzly-bear interactions ever written, In the Presence of Grizzlies (formerly published as The Essential Grizzly) examines the fragile bond between ourselves and the quintessential alpha predator. Doug and Andrea Peacock contend that the conservation of big, wild, sometimes dangerous animals is essential for the survival of our own species and for the sense of humility necessary for rational thought. They explore a wide range of human-grizzly encounters through interviews with biologists, mauling victims, hunters, and photographers. To these they add unique portraits—sketches of real grizzlies from the bear’s viewpoint—and up-to-date commentary on such developments as the declassification of grizzlies as an endangered species. In the Presence of Grizzlies eclipses all existing books on bear behavior and bear attacks, providing readers with a twenty-first-century context for revisiting the original shudder of Homo sapiens—the bear in the cave of our genesis.

A journey into the wilderness high country of the Rockies provides a close-up look at the lives, behavior, communication, social hierarchy, habitat, and relationship with humankind of the endangered grizzly bear