True Bear Stories

Joaquin Miller, the 'Poet of the Sierras' who once admitted he lies like a weather vane in a windstorm, dedicated these stories to his daughter with the claim that he 'prefers true stories to made-up ones.' The irony is part of the charm. Here are tales of real bears, grizzlies and cinnamon bears, mothers and loners, encountered in the wild American West, told by a man who spent his life defending creatures he believed had earned an undeservedly vicious reputation. Miller digs up stories from his boyhood, passing along what he sees as the wisdom and variety in bears' lives. Whether every story happened exactly as told is perhaps beside the point. What survives is a window into a vanished frontier, when men and bears still shared the wilderness, and a father's voice speaking across decades to his 'dear little daughter' about the magnificent animals that roam the forest's edge. For readers who love the American West, wildlife writing, or the peculiar pleasure of a tall tale told with complete sincerity.