American Buffalo

In Search of a Lost Icon

By: Steven Rinella

Narrated by: Steven Rinella

From the host of the Travel Channel’s The Wild Within.

A hunt for the American buffalo - an adventurous, fascinating examination of an animal that has haunted the American imagination.

In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds - there’s only a two percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful - Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Throughout these adventures, Rinella found himself contemplating his own place among the 14,000 years’ worth of buffalo hunters in North America, as well as the buffalo’s place in the American experience. At the time of the Revolutionary War, North America was home to approximately 40 million buffalo, the largest herd of big mammals on the planet, but by the mid-1890s only a few hundred remained. Now that the buffalo is on the verge of a dramatic ecological recovery across the West, Americans are faced with the challenge of how, and if, we can dare to share our land with a beast that is the embodiment of the American wilderness.

American Buffalo is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future: to the Bering Land Bridge, where scientists search for buffalo bones amid artifacts of the New World’s earliest human inhabitants; to buffalo jumps where Native Americans once ran buffalo over cliffs by the thousands; to the Detroit Carbon works, a “bone charcoal” plant that made fortunes in the late 1800s by turning millions of tons of buffalo bones into bone meal, black dye, and fine china; and even to an abattoir turned fashion mecca in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, where a depressed buffalo named Black Diamond met his fate after serving as the model for the American nickel.

Rinella’s erudition and exuberance, combined with his gift for storytelling, make him the perfect guide for a book that combines outdoor adventure with a quirky blend of facts and observations about history, biology, and the natural world. Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.

©2008, 2009 Steven Rinella (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This is some of the best writing on our great national beast since George Catlin - and that was in 1841. A real triumph.” (Bill McKibben, author The Bill McKibben Reader)

“This is a big-game hunting story like no other: Steven Rinella is in search of an animal, quite literally. But also historically, existentially, and maybe even spiritually. Follow him on this curious armed quest - and, like him, you will quickly find yourself immersed in the fate of our mightiest and most talismanic beast.” (Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder)

“Moving and downright funny...Rinella writes with authority about the process of turning a living creature into steak, and easily renders an enormous amount of historical and scientific information into a thoroughly engaging narrative.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Well done sir! Incredible!

An amazing story paired with very interesting and oddball information delivered in an entertaining exciting way! Loved every bit of it. Steven Rinella does an excellent job reading and explaining what goes into an ethical hunt but not without mishaps and mayhem. Makes me want to go to live longer to see the evolution of such an incredible animal due to the unfortunate events of its past and its persistence to keep on hammering. Loved it!

Rinella knocks it out of the park

I have enjoyed every minute of this book. The glimpses into history, the story of his hunt.... EVERYTHING.

Amazing

Truly Brilliant. Just another reason why i love Rinella. Everything he does turns to gold

A Beautiful Story of History & Conservation

This book was an amazing journey through history, paying reverence to an almost lost creature

Amazing book! Must listen!

Steven Rinella is an amazing writer and paints the picture so clear it makes you feel like you are there in person! Very well written!

AMAZING BOOK!!!

Highly recommend for anyone who is interested in the history of the Buffalo along with a great adventure

Narrator Makes it

Narrator really seemed to be in tune with the book. Must have worked closely with the author.

Awesome book!!

Thank you Steven Rinella!! Inspires me to do more hunting and camping adventures. Fellow Michigander

Steve's a boss!

loved it! Steven is an excellent story teller. I would disagree with a few statements such as "first Americans" native people predate America. Steve has a great way of painting a picture and really allowing the listener to feel like they're with him on his adventure. I concur Steven, let the buffalo roam.

great story!

amazing story! lots of great information about the history of the buffalo and human interactions with them throughout history!