Review by Booklist Review
Historian Hatch (The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer, 2015) invites readers to discover George Grinnell (1849-1938). Grinnell dug for fossils, hunted game in the West when it was still wild and largely unsettled, and rubbed elbows with famous people like John James Audubon's widow, General George Custer (yes, that one), and Theodore Roosevelt. He had a passion for birds from a young age, but his interests in the natural world grew with every adventure he undertook. The abundance of wildlife in the West astounded him, but when the Transcontinental Railroad was built, all that changed. Hatch chronicles how buffalo and other wild animals were slaughtered by opportunists eager to have trophies on their walls. Other wildlife, like waterfowl, were experiencing declines, too. Grinnell began to write about these changes and was able to influence legislative protections. He lived among Native American groups and was adopted as an honorary member by some; his books about those cultures helped change attitudes about ""savage"" peoples. This is absorbing and engagingly written, and the added photos are a treat.--Joan Curbow Copyright 2020 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Hatch offers a concise biography that places George Bird Grinnell in the context and happenings of his time. The book covers Grinnell's home schooling by the widow of John James Audubon, his Yale education, his father's career as a financial advisor, and other standard biographical data. It also includes information about persons with whom Grinnell had contact, including George Armstrong Custer and the Black Hills Expedition, Theodore Roosevelt, and a members of various Native American tribes met during his explorations searching for ancient ruins and artifacts or studying the flora and fauna of the region. Grinnell's influence was widespread and noteworthy not only because of his vast array of acquaintances but also because of his editorial direction of Field and Stream magazine. Hatch concludes the volume with an appeal to the listeners to do their part to save national parks and other natural areas from big business interests and short-sighted politicians. VERDICT This volume will appeal to a general audience interested to the natural world and history.--Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community College, Mt. Carmel
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A celebration of a significant 19th-century environmental activist.Hatch (The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer: The True Story of the Battle of Little Bighorn, 2015, etc.) offers a thorough, but undistinguished, biography of George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938), known by his contemporaries as "The Father of American Conservation." The author asserts that Grinnell "has not enjoyed the acclaim of other early conservationists," but he was the subject of a fine, recently published biography, John Taliaferro's Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Drive To Save the West, (2019) which covers essentially the same ground as Hatch's more concise book. Both authors chronicle Grinnell's evolution from Wall Street financier to eminent naturalist, his advocacy for Native Americans, his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt and others concerned about the environment, his editorship of Field and Stream, his founding of the Audubon Society, his prolific publications, and his many expeditions into "the untamed wilderness." Neither author is able to offer intimate details about Grinnell's personal life: for example, his sudden decision, at the age of 53, to marry a "young Boston widow," 24-year-old Elizabeth Curtis Williams. Hatch emphasizes Grinnell's "continuing growth as an advocate" for Native Americans, whom he considered "downtrodden" victims of governmental fraud. In Grinnell, writes the author, Native Americans "encountered not merely a sympathetic ear but a man who truly desired to tell an accurate story and offer a vivid yet unembellished portrayal" of tribal culture. Hatch boasts that his biography is "not only timely but has a chance to make a substantial difference" by alerting readers that natural resources "are under siege." In the final chapter, he exhorts readers to preserve Grinnell's legacy, to trust in the "wonders of science to develop a solution to climate change," and to ensure that "civilization, commercialization, and conservation" can flourish together. The concerned public may "have more influence than we may think," Hatch writes, "but it must be used wisely and properly."A middling biography that serves as a useful reminder of an exemplary champion for the Earth. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
