The Buffalo Book: The Full Saga Of The American Animal

by David A. Dary

The journals and memoirs of 19th century explorers and travelers in the American West often told of viewing buffalo massed together as far as the eye could see. This book appropriately covers the subject of the buffalo as extensively as that animal covered the plains. Other recent accounts of the buffalo have focused on two or three aspects, emphasizing its natural history, the hunters and the hunted in prehistoric time, the relationship between the buffalo and the American Indian. David Dary’s treatment stretches from horizon to horizon. Of course he discusses the origin of the buffalo in North America, its locations and migrations, its habits, its significance and role in both Indian and white cultures, its near demise, its salvation. But more. Dary weaves throughout his fact-filled book fascinating threads of lore and legend of this animal that literally helped mold who and what America is. Further, in addition to detailing the extinction which almost befell this mythic beast and the attempts to give life again to the herds, Dary concentrates significant attention on the buffalo as part of 20th century America in terms of captivity, husbandry, and symbol.

The Buffalo Book rounds up all the contemporary buffalo. Dary has located just about every single buffalo alive today in the United States. He has visited or corresponded with everyone who raises a private or government herd, small or large. He maps their location, size, purpose, future. There are even some instructions about how to raise buffalo if one is so inclined. For the gourmet The Buffalo Book provides a number of recipes, such as Sweetgrass Buffalo and Beer Pie or Buffalo Tips a la Bourgogne. From the buffalo nickel to Wyoming’s state flag, from The University of Colorado’s mascot to Indiana’s state seal, we picture and use the buffalo in hundreds of ways; Dary surveys the 19th and 20th century symbol adaptation of the animal.

Genres: Nature, History, Animals

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

Reviews

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that I retrieved from the secondhand bookstore and it was since of the subject of the book itself that I was attracted to it.

The Buffalo Book first of all is most definitely an older book so in some regards I was considering for some of it to be outdated such as the listings in the back of the book of public and private institutions that contain bison. Furthermore there is no mention of Miracle under the chapter of white bison since at the time of publication she hadn't been born yet.

Otherwise the rest of the book is basically about twice the original size of the pages given since of the fact that the font is especially tiny to allow the text to be compacted together. Unlike other animal nonfiction books to a degree, this one studies the influence of the bison and its history with humans including the carnage with its aftermath before touching a bit on the different genders then into the conservation, history of training, white bison and so much more. And since of the subject although the book is tragic in a sense it also does include a lot of stories from various sources that I wouldn't have even thought about such as people breaking bison to the harness, grizzlies attacking bison from the top of a bank, the pampas cattle overflow that helped to lead to the bison slaughter and of course the fact that the early homesteaders relied on bone collecting for part of their profits.

The book does have illustrations, which are mostly photographs or artwork reproductions included but they were all in black-and-white, which unfortunately made it hard to see the details on some of them.

The part that I really didn't like nor was really given any good explanation for was the usage of buffalo and Indian throughout the book thus the book at this point in time wouldn't be considered politically correct on those regards alone.

Otherwise the book was really informative, had lots of included information, a whole mess of notes and extra appendixes including one that included some bison meat recipes for those who would like to give some of them a try. As such for those curious about this animal and its place in history I would highly recommend this book for a read-through.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-researched book, but not particularly well-written or well-edited. (It reads, at times, like it was written by someone at your small town's local historical society.) David Dary clearly loves his subject matter, and that's a good thing, but it seems like he included every buffalo fact or anecdote that he came across in his research. Still, a lot of interesting facts about this big animal that is so important in American history. There was much that I already knew, but also a lot that was new to me. The book covers early encounters between bison and European explorers, Native American religious beliefs, buffalo hunting, buffalo farming, buffalo stampedes, battles between buffalo, and much more.

[Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sheer concept of this book merits four stars.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Working in Yellowstone as a tour guide this book can serve as a valuable resource. There is no more comprehensive history and science book on the bison and their marks on the Earth.