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.