A Whale Hunt: How a Native-American Village Did What No One Thought It Could |  | Author: Robert Sullivan
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Seller: bay-city-books
Rating:  15 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0684864347
Dewey Decimal Number: 639.28089979079799
EAN: 9780684864341
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Product Description
For centuries the hunting of the whale was what defined the Makah, a Native American tribe in Neah Bay, but when commercial whaling drove the gray whale to near extinction in the 1920s, 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. The problem was that all the old whalers were dead -- no one knew how to go about hunting a whale. A Whale Hunt chronicles the two years Robert Sullivan spends with the Makah as they prepare for and stage the first hunt. Combating tribal infighting and inexperience, they must also face passionate, furious animal rights activists and swarming reporters. Before the ragtag group of hunters even pursues a whale, there are clashes, disappointments, and defeats, small triumphs and unexpected heroes. A book of many layers and revelations, A Whale Hunt is the story of the demise and attempted resurrection of a Native American nation and of the individuals on the reservation whose lives are forever changed.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
 a serious page-turner October 15, 2000
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
What a riveting story this book tells. It's about a tribe of American Indians in the Pacific Northwest who are trying to make a comeback against great odds, trying to reconnect with an ancestral tradition that none of them has witnessed, and doing so amid a swirl of eco-controversy. I got so wrapped up in the lives of the people the author depicts, and the breathtaking land- and seascapes in which the drama unfolds, that it was only after I finished the book that I paused to reflect what a virtuoso prose stylist Robert Sullivan is. He uses a variety of rhetorical approaches to bring out the full complexity of the situation he's describing. This book is both fun and profound, if that makes sense: wistful, weird, quintessentially American.
Romantic Abstraction vs Native Reality May 26, 2002
Karen M. Rudolph (CA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I couldn't put this book down. It is simply the most honest book I have read about a modern Indian community. I am a white woman and I have been married into a Northwest Native fishing family for fifteen years. Sullivan doesn't romanticize the Indian people in his story but he obviously respects them. He sees their shortcomings but he does not judge them. Sullivan understands that no outsider can ever really know what treaty rights mean to Native Americans. Yet Sullivan takes the reader to the reservation and allows us to experience these tribal people as they live through a profound moment in their history. Every detail in this book rang true, even the fact that Mr. Watson, an anti-whaling protest leader, would claim to be adopted by the Oglala. I have run into many white people who believe that they know more about traditional Indian spirituality than actual Indians. The Makahs in this story don't fit anyones preconcieved ideas of how Indian people should act, feel, speak or pray. This book is about a complex and ambiguous reality. Without preaching, it shows how much we still can learn from Indian communities. I bought a number of copies to give to my friends.
Fishing with Wayne and Donnie October 23, 2000
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Despite a bad cold and a fever and the World Series, I couldn't stop reading A Whale Hunt. Like the books I enjoy most, I found this work to be a great adventure, which I was luckily enough to be a part of. And though it is a beautifully researched piece, the book was fun and touching and didn't treat the entire event as some somber anthropology lesson with the noble savages. I greatly look forward to Robert Sullivan's next book.
Vividly Facinating and Incredibly Insightful March 25, 2001
Bonnie Loetscher (Hampton Bays, NY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having lived in Washington and seriously followed the Makah Tribe and their trials and tribulations, I was facinated by Mr. Sullivan's insight. He is right on and extremely vivid in his descriptions and insights. I found myself taking the trips with him and totally enjoying every minute of his journey.
Hunting: From the swamp to the sea October 27, 2000
Sullivan's first book, The Meadowlands was a masterpiece. What I enjoyed most were his chats with and observations of people. Now, we have his latest effort (though his prose style seems effortless) and it is chuck full of people...people you get to know very well as you read this page turner. We can hope that Sullivan's next adventure introduces us to more interesting folks. It will be difficult for him, however, to sustain the drama that envelops A Whale Hunt. BC, Tucson AZ
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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