Review of GRIZZLY CONFIDENTIAL

Up close and personal with “America’s most fearsome predator”

Tl;dr –Grange documents his journey to better understand grizzly bears, learning about their history, behavior, and precarious relationship in our increasingly crowded mountains out west. This was a nice read for a nature enthusiast, and if you’re bear-curious or just love the wilderness, you’ll probably find this enjoyable.

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I’ve seen a lot of wildlife while hiking, including deer, American porcupines, many moose, a cougar – and a bear. But it was just a little black bear, probably its first season on its own judging by its small stature. I’ve only seen a grizzly from my car up in Montana and out in Wyoming. The grizzly is probably the one animal I’d prefer seeing at a distance, from my car.

Most people feel similarly. Out west, the wilderness is governed by rules designed to keep bears and people apart – for both their safety. Kevin Grange, who worked in Jackson Hole, Wyoming – grizzly country – had also only seen bears from a distance, and feared them. He wanted to learn more. And in his book, Grizzly Confidential: An Astounding Journey into the Secret Life of North America’s Most Fearsome Predator, he shares his hands-on educational journey with grizzlies.

Grizzlies are notorious because of their incredible size and strength. They are feared, and for good reason. They can really fuck you up. But every time I see a video or a news report of someone getting attacked by a wild animal, I usually assume it’s the human’s fault because it usually is. But wild animals – although wild and sometimes unpredictable – usually want as little to do with you as you do with them. And they are often predictable if you don’t behave like a jackass.

Bears, in particular, are probably the most important animal when out in the wilderness to not interact with. Because once they get into your car, your food, your tent, they will be back. They will be relocated. They will probably be back. And then they will be killed.

But as the wilderness becomes increasingly invaded by humans, bears are losing territory. Making human-bear governence of utmost urgency. Along his journey, Grange meets community organizers, bear enthusiasts, wilderness experts, activists, and some sketchy folks too. Many of these people are trying to save bears’ territories, increase their populations, learn more about their behavior, cognition, and history. But some are exploiting them, as humans have long done across history.

His journey takes him all over, including the Tetons in Wyoming (one of my favorite places in this country), the Bear Center at Washington State University (one of my favorite stops in the book), and to remote regions in Alaska where people have been co-existing with grizzlies for thousands of years.

It’s a great book, with lots of great tidbits of information – like why we call Teddy Bears that name and where the name “grizzly” bear came from. It’s a classic “wildlife” book, well-written but not in a way that you get from a uber popular science book. But with these kinds of books, I think it’s better that way. There is a mutual respect from the writer to the reader when they just tell you their story and not try to “market” it or dumb it down. I came across this book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble rather than through any kind of promotional efforts. If these kinds of niche books are your thing, its an easy read to add to your TBR.

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Reader Poll

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Published: September 2024

Publisher: Harper Horizon

Format: Hardcover

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If you think this sounds interesting, bookmark these other great reads:

The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica (2023) by Naira de Gracia

Ice Rivers: A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity (2021) Jemma Wadham | Read my review

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