Meat Eater
Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter

Quotes

“It’s evident from Chapter 1 that we are in the hands of a seriously experienced hunter-gatherer and writer. . . . Acutely conveyed are the ways society is elbowing aside an age-old practice, often bloody and brutal, and replacing it with practices numbingly antiseptic and increasingly unreal. . . . Rinella’s writing is unerringly smart, direct, and sharply detailed. . . . Each of his small-bore narratives, whether it unfolds on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [or in] Montana, Alaska, Arizona, or Mexico, bristles with the magic of a specific, authentic place.”—The Boston Globe

“As Steven Rinella is quick to point out, the hunting story is the oldest sort of story there is. Humans developed language, it is commonly held, to tell them. When told properly, as they are in Meat Eater, such stories are not simple gloats by the successful hunter around the table, proudly chewing on the biggest portion of meat and relishing the respect he has earned from his tribe by bringing back the protein. Rather, they are stories of man’s relationships with his fellow hunters, his family, the land and the animals. The stories in Meat Eater are full of empathy and intelligence.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Steven Rinella is one of the best nature writers of the last decade. . . . This book was a page-turner.”—Tim Ferris
 
“Chances are, Steven Rinella’s life is very different from yours or mine. He does not source his food at the local supermarket. Meat Eater is a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from—and what can be involved. It’s a look both backward, at the way things used to be, and forward, to a time when every diner will truly understand what’s on the end of the fork.”—Anthony Bourdain
 
“Meat Eater begins with a promise—‘This book has a hell of a lot going for it, simply because it’s a hunting story’—and then delivers ceaselessly, like a Domino’s guy with O.C.D. This is survival of the most literate. . . . This—genuine passion, humbly conveyed—is when nonfiction slaughters fiction and hangs it over its mantel. The text is relentlessly vivid and clear. . . . What Rinella does to prepare a muskrat trap when he’s in fifth grade takes five more steps and is infinitely more loving than whatever I did as a fifth grader to break in my baseball glove.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Rinella is an astute observer, with an eye for delightfully telling details.”—Paste
 
“An insider’s look at hunting that devotees and nonparticipants alike should find fascinating.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“If hunting has fewer participants and advocates than ever before, Rinella is doing his best to reverse the trend.”—Booklist
 
“Woven into Rinella’s thoughtful prose detailing his outdoor adventures (or misadventures, in some cases) are historical, ecological, or technical observations dealing with the landscape, the animals, or the manner in which the game is harvested. . . . Rinella has a passion for hunting and wilderness that comes across in his writing.”—Publishers Weekly