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Overview
"In the fall of 1997, Robert Sullivan arrived in Neah Bay, a tiny town on the most northwestern tip of America, home to the Makah, a Native American tribe. For centuries the hunting of the whale was what defined the tribe, but when commercial whaling drove the gray whale to near extinction in the 192Os, the Makah voluntarily discontinued their tradition and hung up their harpoons. In 1994, after the gray whale was taken off the endangered species list, the Makah decided to hunt again. Faced with the problems endemic to other reservations, including poverty, unemployment, and alcoholism, many Makah believed that a traditional whale hunt would inject their community with a new sense of pride and purpose. The problem was that all the old whalers were dead - no one knew how to go about hunting a whale." "Robert Sullivan chronicles the two years he spends in Neah Bay as the Makah prepare for and stage the first hunt."--BOOK JACKET.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
In 1999, a small armada of animal rights activists, TV crews and Coast Guard ships swarmed around a canoe off the coast of Washington State carrying seven Makah Indians as they hunted and killed a gray whale for the first time in living memory. The activists were attempting to halt the slaughter of an animal only recently removed from the endangered species list, while the Makahs were reviving a whaling tradition that had been dormant for generations. For visiting journalist Sullivan (who made a splash last year with his quirky natural and social history of The Meadowlands of New Jersey), it was an irresistible story. Sullivan--who writes like a hipper, edgier William Least Heat Moon and spent two years with the Makah--gives a kind of outsider's insider view of the hunt's preparation and aftermath, from the private anxieties of the tribespeople to the external pressure from the U.S. government, which insisted that the whale be killed "humanely" with a bullet in the brain immediately after the harpoon strike. He also provides funny commentary on subjects like neighboring Seattle ("a city filled with people who walk around in technologically advanced outdoor fabrics") and the too-easily ridiculed animal rights protesters. But Sullivan never quite communicates why the whale hunt was so important to him personally, or what it really meant to the Makah themselves. Did they actually hope to restore tribal heritage and pride? Or were they merely aiming to get rich by selling whale meat to the Japanese, as the animal rights protestors alleged? Sullivan mostly ducks these questions, which may disappoint those who come to this wry and sympathetic account for a hard-hitting look at the issues it raises, rather than to ride along with its engaging author. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.Booknews
New York-based freelance writer Sullivan () chronicles two years he spent at the center of a controversy that pitted two cherished ideals against each other<-->protecting whales and preserving ancestral practice. The Makah, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, resumed hunting the gray whale in the traditional manner when it was taken off the endangered species list in 1995; animal rights advocates arrived to protest. There is no index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Nat Philbrick
Marvelous . . . A muted and real reflection of our contemporary situation . . . Once you get beyond the uproar and the politics, Sullivan seems to be saying, we are all just people, trying to find meaning in a most confusing and changeable world.—New York Times Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
American Indians and whales collide in this resounding work of environmental and ethnographic reportage by the author of the quirky travel book Meadowlands (1998).Book Details
Published
October 1, 2000
Publisher
New York : Scribner, c2000.
Pages
288
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780684864334