lion escapades were the best | Death in the Long Grass

Death in the Long Grass | Death in the Long Grass | Peter Hathaway Capstick

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	• Death in the Long Grass Peter Hathaway Capstick St. Martin's Press, 1989 average customer review:based on 86 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Old Purple Prose

"Death in the Long Grass" is my favorite of all Capstick's stories. Note, I didn't say "the most accurate or honest", but simply my favorite. He makes fearful episodes with wild beasts believable but, I suspect that Capstick put many second-hand stories into the first person.

I spoke to one long-time professional hunter in Zambia, old Rhodesia and Zimbabwe, "What do you know about Capstick?" At the time I was an avid reader and believed every word like scripture. He told me, "All I've heard of him is that he was a cook in a hunting camp in Zambia." Then again, my professional hunter friend may have had insufficient information. Another time, in one of his book, Capstick seems to quote me, personally. I will paraphrase, "I met a young African hunter who gave me his philosophy on hunting, 'It's better to spend small amounts of money and go on many safaris than to spend a great deal of money and go on only a few'." This is, in fact, an accurate quote...but...I never met Capstick. But this was and is my personal philosophy and, because of it, I have hunted all over the world and taken everything from doves to elephant.

Another friend, who reportedly knew Capstick in his later years, told me that Capstick said words to the effect, "Everybody believes that I am a liar." My friend responded, "It doesn't matter what people think. You are a great writer and you've done more for big-game hunting than any man alive." I quite agree with this, by the way.

In one of his books, Capstick tells the exciting story of hunting down a maneating leopard. It's truly a gripping tale. Late in his life, Capstick--for a fee--offered his company on African safaris. I read the account my one of the men who hired Capstick. Once again, I'll paraphrase, "It's a remarkable thing that Capstick, who had guided so many hunters in the killing of leopards, had never actually shot one himself. I therefore gave him my leopard permit and Capstick did the shooting."

Hey, Capstick was a fascinating writer, had a great ear and made the reader live the adventure. Were all his facts exactly straight? I don't know and doubt it really matters.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico.

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lion escapades were the best

i thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on lions and snakes , while elephant and leopard were a bit extravagant and lofty . At times it Appeared capstick was trigger happy and I couldn't help feeling for the animals . Sounded very exaggerated at times . But why kill antelopes and elephants when they are so harmless and non interfering .
the written script was a bit jargonic and slang difficult to comprehend at times , I would prefer Kenneth Anderson books any time .
All in all the death in the long grass was full of mixed feelings.

Death in the Long Grass

A terrific book, especially for those going to Africa. A must for hunters especially those who will hunt in Africa. It was the book my Professional Hunter had me read the first time I visited southern africa. It was not only great reading but very sobering and helped me gain the proper respect for these magnificent and dangerous animals. Also a great book for those who may not go to africa but want to experience it, get closer to the dark continent and closer to the adventure and danger that lies there. Hightly recommendedThe Man-Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures (Webster's Spanish Thesaurus Edition)

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The most important outdoor books ever written

Hemingway, Ruark, and Sanchez are all pale imitators of the great Peter Hathaway Capstick. Try to imagine an American walking away from a Wall Street career to hunt as a professional guide in Africa. Now imagine that this guy could write WAY BETTER than Hemingway, and you're still not there.
A small snipet from the chapter on leopard.
"...the bark of the tree, when, suddenly, your gazing into two yellow-green eyes as evil as poison gas."
I'm not a hunter myself, but reading this book makes me wish I was.

Each one worse than the last

I first read this book years ago, but that copy got lost and I was overjoyed to find it again. My siblings and I all wanted it when Dad gave away his library.

Mr Capstick is a wonderfully descriptive writer! Each one of the big eight African game animals has a chapter; and each is the very worst way to die. Capstick does not skimp on the gory details, but he is entertaining and real. He spent many years in the Africian bush and obviously knows each of these animals very, very well.

I worked with a gentleman who met Capstick while in Africia and he reported that the man in the book is the same man in real life. If you want a different view of Africa from the Disneyification of wildlife this is the book for you.

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Few men can say they have known Africa as Peter Hathaway Capstick has know it-- leading safaris through lion country; tracking man-eating leopards along tangled jungle paths; running for cover as fear-maddened elephants stampede in all directions. And of the few who have known this dangerous way of life, fewer still can recount their adventures with the flair of this former professional hunter-turned-writer.Based on Capstick's own experiences and the personal accounts of his colleagues, Death in the Long Grass portrays the great killers of the African bush-- not only the lion, leopard, and elephant, but the primitive rhino and the crocodile waiting for its unsuspecting prey, the titanic hippo and the Cape buffalo charging like an express train out of control. Capstick was a born raconteur whose colorful descriptions and eye for exciting, authentic detail bring us face to face with some of the most ferocious killers in the world-- underrated killers like the surprisingly brave and cunning hyena, silent killers such as the lightning-fast black mamba snake, collective killers like the wild dog. Readers can lean back in a chair, sip a tall, iced drink, and revel in the kinds of stories Hemingway and Ruark used to hear in hotel bars from Nairobi to Johannesburg, as veteran hunters would tell of what they heard beyond the campfire and saw through the sights of an express rifle.As thrilling as any novel, as taut and exciting as any adventure story, Death in the Long Grass takes us deep into the heart of darkness to view the Africa that few people have ever seen.

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