I'm anxious to start a collection of Capstick, but I don't know where to start.

Could you fellas do me a big favor and rank a few of these. Maybe something like this format: 3,1,8,4,...

Your help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank You!

1. Death in the Long Grass

2. Death in the Dark Continent

3. The Maneaters of Tsavo

4. Sands of Silence: On Safari in Namibia

5. The Winds of Havoc: A Memoir of Adventure and Destruction in Deepest Africa

6. Africa Game Trails

7. Last Ivory Hunter: The Saga of Wally Johnson

8. After Big Game in Central Africa

9. The African Adventurers: A Return to the Silent Places

10. Last Horizons: Hunting, Fishing, and Shooting on Five Continents

11. A Man Called Lion

12. Death in a Lonely Land: More Hunting, Fishing, Shooting on Five Continents

13. Warrior: The Death of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen

14. Maneaters

Madmark,

Buy the lot!

You will eventually after reading Death In The Long Grass.

------------------
saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

I currently have eight of the titles you listed. I want to get the rest. You can't really go wrong. I would go with the hunting based books first and leave the biographies for last. He was an incredible story teller.

MadMark,
Start with "Death in the Long Grass" and you will buy the rest. I own almost all of them and have read them several times. I still go back and pick them up and start reading like it was the first time.
Enjoy thim all they are great.

Good Hunting,
Steve

Madmark, you will buy them all sooner or later, so save yourself some money, and buy one of the packages that include 4, or five of his books. These packages are avialable from Safari Press from time to time. www.safaripress.com

I think if I were going to start with one book it would be "DEATH IN THE LONG GRASS"
A good companion to the Capstick books are the Capstick films by SPORTSMEN ON FILM!

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..Mac >>>===(x)===>

Another vote for "Death in the Long Grass"..

I have them all....

Death in the Long Grass is the best.

You'll get all of them, but if you are a history buff, put African Adventurers and Meinertzhagen books way at the top of the list. Ku-dude

It should be known that The Maneaters Of Tsavo is not written by PHC but published by his book company and I belive he wrote a forward to it.Your paying around $25 US for his name on it.Simply buy the paperback version of The Maneaters Of Tsavo by John Paterson for about $6.Your local bookstore should be able to get you a copy or just order it off of Amazon.com.

BTW,I have read most of PHC's stuff.Paterson's book is better than all of them,mostly because Paterson himmself took on the two lions that killed a confirmed 130 people (who knows how many unconfirmed)between them.

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"Only accurate rifles are interesting"

You guys are awesome! Thank you kindly for your responses.

I guess I'll have to start with Death in the Long Grass and sell my first born for the rest of the collection .

Mark

MadMark

You should start with Death in the long Grass, this book will give you an introduction to Capstick's "magic". You will want to follow this with The Last Ivory Hunter, PHC's best book IMO.

I felt Sands os Silence and Death in a Lonely Land were not as good as his others.

You should read Pondoro by John Taylor before you read A Man Called Lion.

Jason

Most of Capstick's work is great for factual info, but Death in the Long Grass is story-telling with odds and ends regarding various aspects of African hunting history. "Long Grass" is the best by far...hilarious. My friend and I are still-serveral years later- talking about the part in the book when he went to the john, and ended up blasting into it at a snake with his shotgun, and was covered by the unsavory contents from within. Enjoy.

While I'll admit that Death in the Long Grass was riveting, it gives a distorted view of the danger. If one had that many brushes, back to back to back, he'd leave the continent and never return.

I have 11 of the 14 in my African library. I think that Death In The Long Grass is where I'd start as well.

The biographies are my favorites but now I have to run out and get Death in the long grass.

I've never gotten it. I have read most of them and always believed Capstick came across as something that didn't smell right. After seeing his videos, I realized he was a blowhard full of puckey. A lot of people swear that reading his books inspired their interest in Africa. I suspect that they turned off a greater number, they just aren't on this board to tell it.

Wow. A 10 year old thread!

Death in the long grass is best. He was a great story teller whether he actually perfomed the deeds or not.

quote:

Originally posted by mustbhuntn:
Wow. A 10 year old thread!

Death in the long grass is best. He was a great story teller whether he actually perfomed the deeds or not.

He's an Okie.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Madmark,

Buy the lot!

You will eventually after reading Death In The Long Grass.

------------------
saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Hi Saeed, how come some of the posters on this thread have < > aside there names and it doesnt show there stats?

Are they navy seal covert members?

quote:

Originally posted by Art S.:
I've never gotten it. I have read most of them and always believed Capstick came across as something that didn't smell right. After seeing his videos, I realized he was a blowhard full of puckey. A lot of people swear that reading his books inspired their interest in Africa. I suspect that they turned off a greater number, they just aren't on this board to tell it.

+1

I suggest that you read Death in the Long Grass last. It is by far his best. After it, it is all down hill.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by Art S.:
I've never gotten it. I have read most of them and always believed Capstick came across as something that didn't smell right. After seeing his videos, I realized he was a blowhard full of puckey. A lot of people swear that reading his books inspired their interest in Africa. I suspect that they turned off a greater number, they just aren't on this board to tell it.

I suspect that any that got "turned off" wern't hunters anyway....

quote:

Originally posted by generalwar:

Hi Saeed, how come some of the posters on this thread have < > aside there names and it doesnt show there stats?

I'm not Saeed, but I'll answer your question. The "<____>" around someones name means that they are no longer a registered member, at least not under the same name.

You will see that I replied to this post under my old name "J Brown", and it shows that I am no longer registered under that name.

There was a website upgrade in about 2003 and I was somehow purged from the system. When I reregistered I had to use a new name, which is why I am now "JBrown".

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
I suggest that you read Death in the Long Grass last. It is by far his best. After it, it is all down hill.

465H&H

I have a different take, I would read DITLG first. IMO, once you have a grasp on "Africa" death in the Long Grass will seem a bit over-the-top.

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:

quote:

Originally posted by Art S.:
I've never gotten it. I have read most of them and always believed Capstick came across as something that didn't smell right. After seeing his videos, I realized he was a blowhard full of puckey. A lot of people swear that reading his books inspired their interest in Africa. I suspect that they turned off a greater number, they just aren't on this board to tell it.

I suspect that any that got "turned off" wern't hunters anyway....

+1

I've known lots of people, including me, who liked to hunt locally but never considered hunting Africa until reading Capstick. I've never known it to work the other way around; someone was considering the idea of hunting Africa until they were "turned off" by Capstick.

It just doesn't happen.

What would turn me off to hunting Africa is the prospect of sharing a campfire with some humor-impaired harpie who can't stand the fact that Capstick wrote some successful books and could spin a good yarn.

I've got news for the "old Africa" hands; you don't need a lot of experience in Africa to know that Capstick is telling sea stories. He can't keep his stories straight and if you have all his books you know he contradicts himself a lot.

When did Capstick see his first Elephant? In Sidamo province in Ethiopia while evaluating Karl Luthy's operation for Winchester? While guiding "Antonio" in Zambia on his first safari as a professional hunter? Both, according to Capstick's own writing!

So what? He told sea stories, but he told them well. And that counts for a lot. At least Capstick was entertaining. His detractors, on the other hand, come across as the spinster aunt you hated visiting during the holidays because you had to sit on the plastic-wrapped sofa and not eat anything because you might spill something. And heaven help you if you wandered off the plastic runner onto the actual carpet on the way to the bathroom.

A few more of Capstick's works to add to your list:

Africa - A Return to the Long Grass

Death in the Silent Places

Safari - the Last Adventure

Most of his works are interesting reading, so get them for their entertainment value. My understanding from those who say they knew Capstick is the stories he wrote about did actually happen, but not necessarily to him.

I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for PHC.

Death in the Long Grass was published in 1977----the year Kenya closed. At least in the U.S., the interest in African hunting declined and there wasn't a whole lot being written.

Peter's books helped kindle in me a curiosity, a need, to hunt Africa.

He published in re-internet days, and yes, by today's standards, seems exaggerated (a mamba behind every bush, etc.)

I remember on my first safari, the PH railing against Peter, referring to him as "Crapstick". My reply was that he should perhaps send Peter a thank you note because I, and many other Americans at that time, might not have taken up the sport if not for Peter.

I bought the entire set. leatherbound and signed = a bit pricey, but worth it for the content and the collectability (is that a word!!).

Highly recommend them all!

JW

I have them all,, I started with "Death in the long grass" then the rest of the "death" books. I found many of them on Shakri's website plus many other good books on historical africa as well as "hunters stories", I read most for "fun" not for "facts" so a little embelishment on the part of any of the authors was not upsetting to me. I found Ruarks books much more graphic and unsettling than Capsticks. The Mau-Mau years are hard to fathom living in safe rural Texas during that time period.

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:
... What would turn me off to hunting Africa is the prospect of sharing a campfire with some humor-impaired harpie who can't stand the fact that Capstick wrote some successful books and could spin a good yarn.

... So what? He told sea stories, but he told them well. And that counts for a lot. At least Capstick was entertaining. His detractors, on the other hand, come across as the spinster aunt you hated visiting during the holidays because you had to sit on the plastic-wrapped sofa and not eat anything because you might spill something. And heaven help you if you wandered off the plastic runner onto the actual carpet on the way to the bathroom.

Humorous and well-crafted imagery, and so true!

Can you imagine if, through some miracle of transcription, each of us was haunted by a written record of our own tales of hunting heroics as told by a camp fire? How much of our selectively recalled and ever-so-subtly embellished stories would hold up to the harsh scrutiny applied by those intent on humorless, soul-numbing, scientific dissection?

If he was economical with the truth, who cares? Capstick wrote campfire stories - not encyclopedia entries. Like my grandfather, he never let the facts get in the way of a well told yarn. And those yarns - like Capstick's - served to inspire me later in life.

I've read a number of his stories. Many a passage with a raised eyebrow. But, it was nothing if not entertaining. John Hunter got me hooked on Africa. Capstic & Ruark provide more modern day perspectives (even if some only transpired on a bar stool). Read them and enjoy them for what they are.

Well, I knew the PHC worship society would arise in strength. I have achieved one thing on my bucket list; I am now officially a harpie!

You can take my word for it, that I am quite the opposite: a cutup in real life, and actually have been ridden unmercifully at times as a teller of tall tales and jokes. The thing that you seem to be missing is that PHC did not present these as tales or stories or campfire chatter, he presented them, to me, as the dead set truth, albeit in tokenly acceptable writing style (he is certainly not Ruark or Hemingway).

Other hunters who wrote of Africa could also spin a good tale (Hunter, Ruark, Taylor, Hemingway etc), but their tales always seemed to smack of the truth. Sometinmes they suffered for this. I have seen Hemingway derided on this board for talking about hunting lion and buffalo with a 30-06 and 220 solids. This was poo-pooed as ridiculous because it didn't fit the "white hunter" image. However, recent writings by others confirm that it occured. Others did it too, if you read less modern writings from the colonial days.

I never had this smack of the truth vibe with PHC. I can see stretching the truth a little for a good story, but inventing it for your own ego is something else.

I didn't care one way or the other until he released "A Man Called Lion". I waited a long time for that book and pre-ordered it to get it early. When I was through, I threw it in the trash. I didn't think Taylor was a saint, and he too certainly stretched the truth at times, I suspected, but he stretched and didn't invent. PHC, however, wrote an entire biography, as near as I could tell, with no new material. He simply gathered all the rumors and inuendo which had been circulating for years and used it to smear someone who was dead and couldn't respond. To my mind, there was no particularly new material there to warrant it, just a way to pad the pockets. That's when my opinion of him crossed the line to dislike.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Madmark,

Buy the lot!

You will eventually after reading Death In The Long Grass.

---- :: --------------
saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

quote:

PHC, however, wrote an entire biography, as near as I could tell, with no new material. He simply gathered all the rumors and inuendo which had been circulating for years and used it to smear someone who was dead and couldn't respond. To my mind, there was no particularly new material there to warrant it, just a way to pad the pockets. That's when my opinion of him crossed the line to dislike.

Did you read the same book I did? In the one I read, Capstick and Brian Marsh presented much new evidence of Taylor's homosexuality, including Marsh's personal knowledge, research and experiences, but left it up to readers to reach their own conclusions.

Bill Quimby

Well, if I'm a member of the PHC worship society, I wonder what his detractrors are like.

This is one of the starker examples of PHC crossing himself up.

quote:

Everybody has to start somewhere. I had never seen a live African elephant in the wild before this day on my first professional safari in Zambia.

Death in the Long Grass, pp. 61

quote:

I had never seen a wild African elephant, and it was beginning to look like my first close-up might be my last.

Lost Horizons, pp. 15, in the short story "Death in Sidamo."

I imagine there are some firsts that might become hazy memories, I just don't think that'd include your first elephant charge. Which, according to PHC, both these occasions involved.

Actually, I don't need to wonder what his detractors are like. For some reason I can't fathom, they've crossed the line into active dislike.

There may be better and more authoritative figures who wrote about Africa, such as Hunter or Taylor. But I never knew about them until I read Capstick. Now I have their books, amongst many others. Courtesy of Capstick.

I just can't bring myself to dislike the guy. He is exactly as he describes himself, a "professional small boy." He would have been a blast to go hunting with. Or just shoot BB guns with in the back yard.

Capstick wasn't a liar. He just had a common and in his case likable tendency toward exaggeration.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
Capstick wasn't a liar. He just had a common and in his case likable tendency toward exaggeration.

I wouldn't call Capstick a liar, either.

I strongly suspect that as someone making his living as a writer, he had an writer's need to recycle the same event time and again to keep momma in beans and jeans.

One trip to Belize becomes 10 stories, each with man-eating hammerheads, charging jaguars, and death-dealing poisonous snakes.

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
Capstick wasn't a liar. He just had a common and in his case likable tendency toward exaggeration.

I wouldn't call Capstick a liar, either.

I strongly suspect that as someone making his living as a writer, he had an writer's need to recycle the same event time and again to keep momma in beans and jeans.

One trip to Belize becomes 10 stories, each with man-eating hammerheads, charging jaguars, and death-dealing poisonous snakes.

Quite right. As this thread brings out, Capstick had an incredible flair for dramatizing and bringing out the sheer adventure of his subjects. We all know that some of the stories were "borrowed" too, but so what. He was an artist at it.

I never knew him, though we were contemporaries, but I always envied his chucking his stock broker job where he was a friend of the younger Dean Witter, and heading off to Africa, first as a tour operator, then as a PH and later writer.

I do know one of the subjects who appeared in one of his later books. My friend had done a safari in Zambia the year before me, got chomped by a hippo and air-medivaced to Joburg. The doctors told him of six similar cases that year, he was the only one who lived. He later phoned Capstick in SA from Chicago to clarify some of the details in his story which PHC had read in a local paper. PHC told of this phone call in one of his books, with the name left out.

When I got there the next year, my PH told me the real facts which differed quite a bit from what my friend told me and PHC.

quote:

do know one of the subjects who appeared in one of his later books. My friend had done a safari in Zambia the year before me, got chomped by a hippo and air-medivaced to Joburg. The doctors told him of six similar cases that year, he was the only one who lived. He later phoned Capstick in SA from Chicago to clarify some of the details in his story which PHC had read in a local paper. PHC told of this phone call in one of his books, with the name left out. When I got there the next year, my PH told me the real facts which differed quite a bit from what my friend told me and PHC.

It makes me wonder if your PH also your friend's PH when he was attacked by that hippo, or was this just one more example of stories that spread and grow out of such incidents? Even if it had actually happened as your PH stated, from what you've told us it appears that Capstick's story agreed with the source of the tale.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:

quote:

do know one of the subjects who appeared in one of his later books. My friend had done a safari in Zambia the year before me, got chomped by a hippo and air-medivaced to Joburg. The doctors told him of six similar cases that year, he was the only one who lived. He later phoned Capstick in SA from Chicago to clarify some of the details in his story which PHC had read in a local paper. PHC told of this phone call in one of his books, with the name left out. When I got there the next year, my PH told me the real facts which differed quite a bit from what my friend told me and PHC.

It makes me wonder if your PH also your friend's PH when he was attacked by that hippo, or was this just one more example of stories that spread and grow out of such incidents? Even if it had actually happened as your PH stated, from what you've told us it appears that Capstick's story agreed with the source of the tale.

Bill Quimby

You are correct that Capstick did seem to repeat accurately what he was told. It was the same info I got from my friend.

No, my PH was John Knowles. He and (?) Potgieter, whose first name I've forgotten, but who is the father of Johann, told our party the real story that they had gotten directly from my friend's PH.

The latter was pretty disgusted with my friend's choice of hunting garb which he said included white tennis shorts, guaranteed to attract attention of the game, and his wandering into a hippo's "territory." OTOH, I was also told that the PH was not exactly blameless, as he had one of the trackers carrying his rifle and was not in a position to do anything. For one reason or another, these were left out of my friend's story as told to me, but then, to be charitable, he may not have remembered much about the incident. There were more details but since they did not reflect well on my friend, I saw no need to tell Capstick or anyone else. It was long enough ago that it doesn't much matter now.