Paul Bunyan (1925) is a novel by James Stevens. Written from a
lifetime of experience as a logger and historian of the logging
industry, Paul Bunyan is a masterful take on one of the defining
legends of the Pacific Northwest. Combining his own stories with those
he heard at logging camps as a young boy, Stevens earned a reputation as
a leading folklorist of his time whose novels and songs continue to
resonate decades after his death. "He could whip his weight in wildcats,
could pull clouds out of the sky, or chew up stones, or tell the whole
world anything!" Larger than life, Paul Bunyan is a logger whose legend
began with the Papineau Rebellion of 1837. As a defender of young Queen
Victoria's right to the forests of Canada, Bunyan fought fiercely
against French loggers alongside his comrades armed with mattocks, axes,
and hooks. Emerging victorious, he settles down to a life in nature,
building his logging camp and roaming the woods with his trusted blue ox
Babe. From his boyhood in the lumber camps of Idaho to his time as a
logger in Oregon, James Stevens collected the tales of Bunyan from the
more experienced men of the woods, eventually becoming the foremost
expert on one of the Pacific Northwest's greatest heroes. With a
beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this
edition of James Stevens' Paul Bunyan is a classic work of American
literature reimagined for modern readers.
