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| Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West | 
| Author: Michael Punke
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $5.75
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 490678
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060897821
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.643092
EAN: 9780060897826
ASIN: 0060897821
Publication Date: June 1, 2007
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 6 | | NEXT » |
thrilling and inspiring October 8, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a fascinating look at an overlooked and underappreciated historical figure: George Bird Grinnell, who led the effort to save the buffalo (and later, Glacier National Park). A man far ahead of his time, Grinnell was trying to save the buffalo when most Americans didn't care that they were disappearing, or were eager to kill them off, either as a way to get rid of the Indians, or as a way to make money. Punke takes you on a thrilling journey, describing exactly how the buffalo were killed off and why, with side ventures into the creation of Yellowstone National Park (and the battles to preserve it that follow), the big baron culture of the 19th centure, the emergence and importance of the magazine industry at the time, and the lives of John James Audubon, Custer, Theodore Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill and many others. The big will leave you with a tinge of sadness -- we will never again see the wilderness west of the early 19th century -- tempered with hope, that one person can, indeed, make a difference.
A Life Spent Serving Others October 3, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Michael Punke has written a very timely account of George Bird Grinnell, the assault on the American buffalo and efforts to keep it from extinction, the creation of Yellowstone National Park, and Grinnell's efforts as a conservationist. Grinnell was able to see into the future to save the buffalo from extinction, and the importance of preserving our environment for future generations. The book deals with poachers who killed buffalo for a living, commercial hunters of birds and fish, and how people felt the supply was inexhaustable. Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872, but many members of Congress voted for it simply because they felt the area was without economic value and setting it aside didn't matter. Grinnell's mentors were Lucy Audubon and Professor Othniel Marsh. Marsh accepted Grinnell as one of a few young men to accompany him out west to search for dinosaur bones. Later Grinnell accompanied George Armstrong Custer's 1874 expedition into the Black Hills of South Dakota on a scientific expedition in which Custer searched for gold. Custer later invited Grinnell to accompany his ill fated 7th cavalry into Montana in 1876, but Grinnell had commitments at the Peabody Museum. Grinnell made the most of his life and devoted it to conserving America's beauty for future generations. It's ironic that his beloved Glacier National Park in Montana is now threatened by global warming. We owe it to him to preserve for future generations what he preserved for us. My copy of this book will go to the local high school in hopes that young people will be aware of the importance of preserving our environment.
A Welcome New Chapter in the George Bird Grinnell Story July 17, 2007
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
Considering George Bird Grinnell's impact on conservation, fair treatment of the American Indian, and the national park movement - and those are but three of his many accomplishments - the lack of a full biography of his life seems downright peculiar. Since I first ran into his name more than a decade ago when I moved into an apartment building named Grinnell and wondered who or what "Grinnell" was, I have often pondered why I didn't learn about George Bird Grinnell in school. Surely, his life is as interesting and his contribution to America is as significant as that of Buffalo Bill (whose path he crossed). Consider, this man founded the first Audubon Society, explored Glacier National Park, and would have accompanied Custer at his last stand, except his professor needed his services for the summer at Yale!
Until now, the most complete exploration of Grinnell's life - excluding the unpublished, autobiographical "Memories" which resides in original at Yale and in copy or microfilm in several other libraries - was John F. Reiger's "The Passing of the Great West." Reiger allowed Grinnell to speak for himself, filling out the picture with supplementary writings by and about him. Gerald Diettert's "Grinnell's Glacier: George Bird Grinnell and Glacier National Park" focuses on one period in Grinnell's life and William T. Hagan's "Theodore Roosevelt and Six Friends of the Indian" (Grinell was one of the six "friends"), focuses on one facet of it. Grinnell's own writings reveal much about him. He was a prolific writer with a keen eye for detail, but his writings with an autobiographical slant are either difficult to obtain, like "Memories," or scattered in various places, such as magazine articles about his home in Audubon Park or the semi-autobiographical series of "Jack" adventure books, which he presumably wrote for his nieces and nephews to acquaint them with the "olden days."
While Michael Punke's "Last Stand: George Bird Grinell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West" is not a complete biography of Grinnell, it is a thorough examination of Grinnell's development from a wealthy and somewhat aimless young man to a mature thinker who grasped the concept of animal extinction and found in himself both the perseverance and tools to combat it.
As Punke succinctly states, "If there were two moral poles in the world of George Bird Grinnell, Cornelius Vanderbilt stood at one of them" and Lucy Audubon, the widow of naturalist and painter, John James Audubon, stood at the other. Punke develops this theme confidently and convincingly throughout his book. Lucy Audubon, who was Grinnell's first teacher and near neighbor in what was then known as Audubon Park, taught him the value of self-denial, which is at the heart of conservation: deny today and preserve so that future generations may enjoy. True, Grinnell probably learned similar lessons from his father, whose reputation remained untarnished and unchallenged (except in the "Brooklyn Eagle") despite two bankruptcies and extended, close business dealings with Cornelius Vanderbilt, the granddaddy of robber barons, but in his later writings, Grinnell gives ample credit to "Grandma" Audubon for her early moral lessons.
Punke is admirable in his ability to keep the various threads of his story moving along simultaneously. Grinnell's maturation, the United States government's subjugation of the American Indian, the near extinction of the buffalo, and the establishment of Yellowstone Park all develop simultaneously, no strand slighted in favor of another. Punke's writing is clear and energetic and his knowledge of the subject matter is extensive.
Occasionally, he misstates a fact; for example, substituting the firm of George B. Grinnell & Co for George Bird Grinnell & Co (George Blake Grinnell did his son a disservice when he named him George Bird - one George B Grinnell too many) and, occasionally he misses an interesting point. September 18, 1873, the day George Bird Grinnell & Co crashed, essentially freeing Grinnell from business and allowing him to return to Yale and embark upon the course that led him west, was the same day that Lucy Audubon, Grinnell's mentor, departed New York City for the last time, returning to Louisville, Kentucky, where she died several months later.
Those bits are tangential, however. This is a splendid book, a welcome addition to the literature about the founding father of American conservation and a very interesting read.
Matthew Spady [...].
Love of the West June 29, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Michael Punke threads his love of the wilds of the West throughout his informative, thought-provoking and insightful story of the buffalo and their interrleationship with the Native American population. He effectively evolved and linked this period to the issues with which we are dealing today. The author's research served to illustrate and elaborate on the context of the time. I gained a great appreciation from the story for the challenges and significant accomplishments of George Bird Grinnell. The book should is a must read for all Americans to infuse a much needed political consciousness of what we have done and are doing to our western wildnerness and the native people and animals who inhabit it.
Dr. Judith L. Lyon
Relevant History June 29, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Michael Punke is fast becoming one of the most reliable authors for accessible, fascinating books about the west. He's a vivid writer who really knows how to construct a story. I highly recommend it.
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