Having run the gamut re the post about “The Green Hills of Africa†I would turn to you again and ask exactly who your favorite author might be? I would not wish to limit it to Africa alone as to do so would leave out a lot of stories dealing with Alaska (Russell Annabel, etc.) and even North America (Babcock, Macquarie, etc) not to mention some wonderful stories from India. For myself, I have always like PHC and Pondoro Bell as well as the ones previously mentioned. I think I read everything Ruark ever wrote and for the most part enjoyed it all. I could say the same for Hemingway – just that some I enjoyed more than others. And some, when I read their work, I never had a single doubt what they wrote was the absolute, pure-D gospel truth. Topping this list would have to be Finn Aagard. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in Africa but almost all of it in Northern Africa, not much in sub-Saharan Africa – and I want to go back!
And for fairness in the comparison, I would add that some could tell wonderful stories but were certainly not very much as ‘Writers.’ Here I would throw in one of my heroes, Elmer Keith. Met the old rascal once (NRA Convention in Atlanta) and he spoke exactly the same way he wrote: terse and straight to the point. He and Bill Jordan were speaking, I was listening and they had a lot to say without saying a lot! As John Wayne told Roy Rogers, “If I could sing we wouldn’t even need you!â€
So, what say you? Which authors do you like and recommend.

I enjoy(ed) Keith, Skelton, PHC, Bob Milek, and Boddington

Since you have opened the field a bit, my choice is Corbett.His tails of tiger hunting are the best read I have been priveledged to enjoy.

the best I've ever read....Poe

Since you did not limit the question to hunting writers only, I like everything that I ever read by Wilbur Smith. Great stories about Africa. The tilogy that introduces the Courtney family (Book 1-When The Lion Feeds) is my favorite.

Doug

I agree about Wilber Smith. I just bound a box of 10 of his books I had in storage. I am half way through the second one.
This is my current Africa reading list
Doyle

Books on Africa

From Mt. Kenai to the Cape - Craig Boddington:
Safari Rifles - Craig Boddington:
Where Lions Roar - Craig Boddington:
Safari Experience - Craig Boddington
Tales of a Trophy Hunter in Africa -Peter Flack:
Heart of an African Hunter - Peter Flack:
The Big Five - Lloyd Newberry
The Perfect Shot - Roberton's
Safari - Bartle Bull
White Hunters -Brian Herne
Horn of the Hunter - R Ruark
Death in the Long Grass and Safari - P H Capstick
A Country Boy in Africa - George Hoffman
African Rifles & Cartridges - John Taylor
Bell of Africa- WDM Bell / T Whelan
Hunter- JA Hunter
Maneaters of Tsavo- J.H. Patterson
African Hunter- Von Blixen Finneke
Maneaters of India- Jim Corbett
African Game Trails- T Roosevelt
Meditations On Hunting - by Jose Ortega Y. Gasset

No matter what you say Hemingway is way up there! Have you guys read Peter Beard? Really fascinating stuff with excellent pics. His book "The end of the game" places high on my list of Africania.Kurt Vonnegut is an old time favorite as is Kerouac...

I totally agree with doc. Corbett's writing takes you right in the middle of the action. I can pretty much close my eyes and imagine the tiger sitting and staring at corbett just few feet away with he extends his .275 Rigby with just one hand and shoots an un aimed shot.

Black Africa, as dark as it gets: Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness".

Any other Stuart Cloete fans out there?

For me, none can ever take the place of Peter H Capstick. I bought every book he ever wrote, and would always take it to DSC or SCI and have him autograph it. I guess he was always to me the one who made African hunting a goal that the everyday person could dream of when you read his books. He was probably one of the most gracious and friendly people I ever met.

My favorite author is Will..

Excerpt from his book.

"Do what I say...Punk.."

The end.

Not trying to hijack the thread but what are the best african hunting books originally written in German, French, Spanish etc....

ernie is the man for a great read

As far as hunting writers go, my favorites are O'Connor, Carmichel, Jobson, Hagel, Page, Gates, Boddington, Burger, Brister, and Aitken, and Mellon. Alan Moorehead is great on African stuff in general, as is Brian Herne.

I don't care for Taylor. I didn't like his ethics, his lifestyle, or the many whoppers he invented.

AD

I must confess I am an unabashed Capstick reader. It was he that kindled my passion for Africa. But there are other, I really like Elgin Gates and not just because he liked Weatherbys I liked his competitive spirit and of course his writing style. Craig Boddington is also a favorite, his down to earth writing style resonates with me and gave me the impetus that a "regular guy" like me could actually go on safari. Anothergood one is the Spaniard, Tony Sanchez-Arino. He also proved to me that "Bulldog Tenacity" is the key ingredient in reaching one's dreams.
All the above writers I consider to write in what one can call the "realist" style. Hemingway on the other hand has an "impressionistic" view of the subject at hand and used his african experiences as prose to illustrate values, beliefs, etc. Good reading but not something I would read in order get a full and realistic measure of what a safari is. jorge

Nearly any of Roy Andrew's books on the Central Asiatic Expeditions, or the Lamb's adventures in Mexico.

I really enjoyed Boddington's "Mount Kenya to the Cape". Even more so than his later writings.

Any of John Hunter's books

Any of Bell's books

Both of Elgin Gates' books, "Trophy Hunter in Africa" and "Trophy Hunter in Asia" are great reading.

Above all, I would guess my favorite WRITER is Robert Ruark.

quote:

Originally posted by RupertBear:
Nearly any of Roy Andrew's books on the Central Asiatic Expeditions

For sure Roy Chapman Andrew's books make a great read if you can get your hands on them. "Under a Lucky Star" is one of my favorites. I think they are all out of print now. His adventures make modern safaris seem like a walk in the park. He often found himself in situations that he had to fight his way out. Many think that he was the inspiration for the fictional character Indiana Jones. As a child he was my hero, I even wrote him a letter once, and to my surprise, received a hand written response. I still keep it tucked inside one of his books, a prized possession.

For stories about the Northeast woods and the characters who live, work, hunt, and fish there the very best teller of tales was Edmund Ware Smith. His stories about Jeff Coongate the one-eyed poacher, the Maine warden service, the residents of the little town of Privilege, the sports who'd come there to hunt and fish, and the locals who guided them, are gems. But those books and stories are all out of print now, more's the pity, and used ones cost an arm and a leg.

A modern author who knows his stuff about cold weather, and hunting and trapping and traveling in same, particularly in Alaska, is Mitchell Smith. His "Due North" is magnificent; the writing is almost musical, the characters seem perfectly real, and the plot twists catch even a jaded reader of adventure novels by surprise.

As for Peter Capstick, all his strange little Brit literary mannerisms and affectations could be forgiven if it weren't for his book, "Warrior". That is a biography of one of the most interesting old Africa hands ever to hold a rifle -- Richard Meinertzhagen -- and Capstick ruined it completely.

Oh, yes, and Stuart Cloete. A genuine African, his "Rags of Glory" (the best novel of the 2nd Boer War ever written), is the frosting on a delicious cake. His best are novels of early South Africa: "Turning Wheels" and "Fiercest Heart", but he wrote knowledgeably about big game and the professional hunters of the 40s and 50s, too: "The Curve and the Tusk". The politically correctness of the present time probably explains why this author is not more widely known or popular.

I would rank Robert Ruark with Horn of the Hunter as the best account of a first safari and it sure makes you want to go. I would rank Corbett's accounts of the maneaters of India as the best story of man vs maneater. I would chose Hunter's books as the best telling of a career as a professional hunter. I would chose Boddington's Safari Rifles as the best work on safari calibers rifles and balistics. I would pick Capstick's Death in the Long Grass as the easiest and best read.

"Pondoro" Taylor is just about the best of the old timers, if not the best of the all timers. The absolute, undisputed best ballistician of his age and a raconteur par excellence. There would have been no Capstick if there had been no Taylor.

And yes, it is true that he was a homosexual and an elephant poacher. Oh yes, and Irish, too (which is worst of all in British eyes). But please spare me any ad hominem attacks. I've heard them all and they all stink of hypocrisy.

Taylor was above all an egalitarian, a libertarian and a humanitarian, and he was the unflinching enemy of racists, bigots and arbitrary authority wherever it reared its ugly head.

I actually like O'Connor's slim African writings the best.

Unlike Capstick, Jack did not start every story the same way, nor did he write the same way.

For modern writers, I like Boddington. Like most writers, his books are a lot better than his mag articles. My least favorite are any stories written by writers on their first safari, esp if they paint a picture of despair and panic when things don't go right. Maybe it is because they are paying for that hunt with their own dinero.

Try Terry Wieland's Spiral Horn Dreams to whild away the hours on the air bus. Not only great hunt stories but good back ground on hunting history in the different countries of Africa. YOu might want to borrow a copy, just looked it up on Amazon .com and it carries a price tag of $145

Tom T

I'd love to read a book that was collaboration between JudgeG and Ray. I think it would be a classic.

For those of you who know how to find used books better than I, I have been trying to purchase a hardcover edition of Peter Beard's "Eyelids of Morning". I once did a web search, found a seller, asked for confirmation that is was the hardback edition, and they of course sent the softcover edition. Anyone out there able to help?

Writers are like rifles, you should have a favorite just because you consider their prose to fit your needs.

I am a PHC fan. I enjoy Boddington, Hemingway, and Ruark will always have a special place in my heart. If you haven't stuck a copy of "The Old Man and the Boy" into your son's hands, you need to do that.

I was 16 the first time I read the book, a commandment from my uncle Guy Anderson, who admonished me to "Here, read this!"
44 years later I still cry when I read the last page.

That folks is what this is all about!

ZA writer - I agree on OConnor. He just comes across as an easy going honest type guy. Like he is talking with you and not writing a story to make a few bucks.
Ruark is very nice also. Rusty, I have to agree on The Old Man and the Boy. Very nice book. All young people interested in the outdoor life should read it.

Boddginton has some very nice stuff out there also.

I've read all of Stuart Cloete's books over and over again. Ruark of course. John Gordon Davis' "Hold My Hand I'm Dying" is exceptional. Just getting in to Boddington, African Hunter II, really like it so far, others on the way.

My favorite big game authors are Corbett, O'Conner, Ruark, Taylor and Hunter, in that order.

Most of the responses have gravitated toward big game (as you would expect). However, I think a lot of upland writers produce work with a much more personal and thought provoking quality. A book like "Pheasants of the Mind" is an example. Some of the work of Ben O. Williams is good.

As far as the absolute best outdoor author ever, in my mind it was Gene Hill, and he has never even been mentioned in any of these threads. I believe he was incomparable in connecting with the true meaning of the subjects he addressed, and made the reader feel the same emotion. St. Exupery had a similar talent but was not as prolific. I always thought Hemingway had this connection with fishing but not particularly hunting. The whole Nick Adams thing, such as the Two Hearted River story is well beyond anything else he ever did emotionally. I have often been surprised that the same person who produced those stories and Old Man and the Sea also wrote his lost generation novels.

Bell, Hunter and Corbett.
Three giants with the rifle and pen. To have been blessed with two such skills leaves one envious, but pleased that they shared their adventures.

For style and verve Ruark.

A writer probably not known much outside Britain is "BB." His accounts of duck and goose shooting along with general observations are remarkable.

I can not rank them, they just came out that way.

When I was a kid the newspaper we got had a regular column by Ruark I always looked forward to that....When you mention prose the top of the list should be T Roosevelt.

Elspeth Huxley-The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard

Brian Herne-White Hunters

Bartle Bull-Safari, Bartle Bull was in the "In the Blood" video

Art:

How right you are about Gene Hill. And how about Gordon McQuarrie?

How in the world could none of us have mentioned Nash Buckingham? In my mind, he was to bird shooting what Bobby Jones was to golf, and the progenitor of all the "homey" southern outdoor writers, including Ruark.

One quote I remember was by George Bird Evans (another one!) on the death of Buckningham. He said: "How kind it is that most of us never know when we have fired our last shell."

I think I have read almost everything by Ruark, and only THE HONEY BADGER was below any kind of standards. I read it, but didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of his stuff. Capstick's writing might not be absolutely true to life, but it is enjoyable to read. Those two would be my favorites.

As to Hemmingway, I had a literature prof that thought he was the spot on earth over which the sun rose and set. My opinion is somewhat different, having been forced to read THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. If it was possible to formulate a thought in a thousand words or more, Hemingway is your man. If you prize succinctness, he is not.

While not strictly African writing, I suppose one of my favorite writers has to be Corey Ford. Very little in literature can bring tears to my eyes anymore, but his piece, THE ROAD TO TINKHAMTOWN, still can.
http://www.afn.co.kr/archives/readings/tinkham.htm

You know, a lot of guys like Tinkhamtown, but I thought the whole thing was just a little too predictable - like when an author describes a scene with a kid long ago, writes in second or third person, and the kid turns out to be the author.

But there is no doubt that Tinkhamtown is one of the most popular stories ever. I think Field & Stream selected it as the best ever.

Anyone who doesn't shed a tear when reading THE ROAD TO TINKHAMTOWN has a heart made of stone. A beautiful piece of work.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
For those of you who know how to find used books better than I, I have been trying to purchase a hardcover edition of Peter Beard's "Eyelids of Morning". I once did a web search, found a seller, asked for confirmation that is was the hardback edition, and they of course sent the softcover edition. Anyone out there able to help?

I have a hard cover edition of this book, "Eyelids of Morning." Would gladly lend it to you for a read but not sure how we would go about this as you are in France and I am in the US. Not quite sure I would wish to sell it so. It is however a best read, especailly with all the pitures. Thought at first it would be dull and drole but such is not the case. Much good info here.
Best regards,