Philip Dray is a historian who has written or coauthored seven books on American history and culture, including At the Hands of Persons Unknown, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize and the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Dray lives in Brooklyn, New York.
"The Fair Chase is a comprehensive and delightful account of the
mystique of sport hunting and firearms in our history. Philip Dray
has given us a deeply researched epic story of hunting and the
literary tradition that celebrates wilderness, the chase, iconic
figures such as Daniel Boone and Sitting Bull, the hunter's code of
ethics, the western in print and film, and the continuing romance
of firearms, along with animal rights, and meditation on the future
of hunting. This is history writing at its exciting best."--Robert
Morgan, author of Lions of the West
"A fluid and fascinating history for hunters and nonhunters
alike."--Garden & Gun
"An eloquent, thoughtful, and nuanced cultural history of American
hunting."--Choice
"Enlightening...The Fair Chase isn't a book about ethics and
philosophy, but Dray does a fine job introducing his readers to the
issues at play...He isn't afraid to lay out hard truths."
--New York Times Book Review
"How hunting came to hold an iconic place in American culture in
the first place is an interesting tale, and in The Fair Chase
Philip Dray explores it with a balance and fair-mindedness that is
unusual for such a contentious subject...The great strength of this
telling is the author's ability to see that little about his story
is black and white."--Wall Street Journal
"In The Fair Chase, Philip Dray expertly guides his readers through
one of the great American stories. Hunters and non-hunters alike
will appreciate how Dray uses the chase to illuminate the central
tensions and dilemmas of the American relationship with the natural
world."--Karl Jacoby, author of Crimes Against Nature
"In The Fair Chase, Philip Dray tells the story, by turns appalling
and inspiring, of hunting in the U.S. and how successive waves of
media imagery transformed it from simple meat procurement into a
recreational activity embodying shifting beliefs about the land and
its European conquerors, animals and humans, and humanity and
nature. No matter how you feel about hunters and hunting, this book
will fascinate you and make you rethink your ideas."--Matt
Cartmill, author of A View to a Death in the Morning
"In this well-written, wide ranging history that is at once
literary and infused with a passion for wild things, Philip Dray
reveals how American sportsmen have continually remade hunting in
ways that both expressed and contributed to broader shifts in the
nation's culture. An essential book for anyone who wants to
understand the origins of our ongoing debates about hunting and
wildlife."--Louis Warren, author of Buffalo Bill's America
"It is still a matter of debate as to how much hunting is in our
DNA as individuals. As a nation, on the other hand, hunting is a
basic building block, essential to our national story. Philip Dray
traces the origins of our founding relationship with guns to today,
when, while fewer people hunt, hunting and the politics it aligns
with holds tremendous sway. Surveying huge tracts of history
swiftly and concisely, Dray makes the largely overlooked point that
for all the complicated emotions it incites, hunting may hold some
answers to ways we might universally reconnect with a natural world
that we are racing to destroy."--Robert Sullivan, author of
Rats
"Less than ten percent of the population now hunts, but they still
represent a large symbolic place in our national narrative. Philip
Dray helps us understand why hunting and hunters continue to shape
our ongoing debates about our relationship to wildlife, endangered
species, and environmental policy. Given the dramatic changes in
the management ethos of our natural resources brought on by the
Trump administration, The Fair Chase is a timely and engaging
reminder of what's at stake."--Jan E. Dizard, author of Going Wild
and Mortal Stakes
"Lively and compelling...A capacious and erudite history of the
practice and meanings of hunting in American life...Written with
sensitivity and bracketed with judgement, it describes a culture
and asks questions, telling a story full of paradoxes and
nuance...As an unrivaled history, and an admirably crafted bid to
deepen dialogue between groups of Americans who might otherwise
view one another as alien or out of touch, Dray's Fair Chase is a
vital intervention."--New Republic
"Revealing...[Dray] does a marvelous job walking us, mostly
chronologically, through nearly every aspect and controversy of
hunting's long history, with themes of ethics ('fair chase, the
idea that hunted animals must have a chance to evade or flee their
pursuers') and conservation looming large throughout...A lively
history that can be enjoyed by hunters and conservationists
alike."--Kirkus
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