Bears and Men: A Gathering

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The expedition was small,10 men who wanted to observe and photograph the polar bears of Hudson Bay. They came to Churchill in November, just before freeze-up, heading for Cape Churchill, 60 kilometers (37 miles) across the tundra. Except for his friend Dan Guravich, the others were strangers to poet-novelist Mills. For nearly two weeks the group would live in very tight quarterstheir mobile camp was a ``tundra-buggy'' that towed a flimsy plywood bunkhouse mounted on the bottom of a track vehicle. They found bears a-plenty, young and old; Arctic foxes, ptarmigan and ringed seals. Mills reflects on the extraordinary camaraderie among the men; he examines photography as art and delusion. He questions the ethics of baiting the bears, a point of contention between two members of the expedition. It was a rugged, exciting adventure, and Mills's spectacular photographs confirm its success. (September 10)

School Library Journal

YA A personal narrative of a photographic expedition to observe polar bears on western Hudson Bay. The book includes 50 lush color photographs of bears, arctic foxes, and observers. A book that will grab the eye of nature afficionados, the text is more akin to Loren Eiseley's philosophical musings than Jane Goodall's. The focus shifts from bears to observers to Mills' poetical ruminations on the relationship of those things. It is a taste of a difficult and trying adventure in a harsh, challenging environment, a book for the inveterate armchair explorer. Annette DeMeritt, Houston Public Library