Meat Eater

Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter

By: Steven Rinella

Narrated by: Steven Rinella

Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of Netflix’s MeatEater comes “a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from” (Anthony Bourdain).

“Revelatory . . . With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson, and a cooking lesson. . . . Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.”—The New York Times Book Review

Meat Eater chronicles Steven Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of ten hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age ten and ending as a thirty-seven-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska.

A thrilling storyteller, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as consumers lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. The result is a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are—as humans and as Americans.

©2012 Steven Rinella (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“It’s evident from Chapter 1 that we are in the hands of a seriously experienced hunter-gatherer and writer. . . . Acutely conveyed are the ways society is elbowing aside an age-old practice, often bloody and brutal, and replacing it with practices numbingly antiseptic and increasingly unreal. . . . Rinella’s writing is unerringly smart, direct, and sharply detailed. . . . Each of his small-bore narratives, whether it unfolds on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [or in] Montana, Alaska, Arizona, or Mexico, bristles with the magic of a specific, authentic place.”—The Boston Globe

“As Steven Rinella is quick to point out, the hunting story is the oldest sort of story there is. Humans developed language, it is commonly held, to tell them. When told properly, as they are in Meat Eater, such stories are not simple gloats by the successful hunter around the table, proudly chewing on the biggest portion of meat and relishing the respect he has earned from his tribe by bringing back the protein. Rather, they are stories of man’s relationships with his fellow hunters, his family, the land and the animals. The stories in Meat Eater are full of empathy and intelligence.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Steven Rinella is one of the best nature writers of the last decade. . . . This book was a page-turner.”—Tim Ferris

Finally Steven Rinella Narrates!

I love the Meateater book and could hear Steven Rinella’s voice in my head as I read it. It’s just as I can hear Anthony Bourdain’s voice when I read Kitchen Confidential. I’ve read both a few times. But I loved both for the same reasons.

Great Book

Terrific book and narration, Rinella is a must read author. Cannot recommend enough to anyone.

Amazing

I have been waiting years for the copy where Steven Rinella reads it, the wait was worth every second. You can hear his passion and his work. He is the Hemingway he is the Mark Twain of our generation.

Inspiring and Philosophical

Great book to not only hear amazing hunting and family stories from a respected outdoorsman, but a book that makes you think about the why's of hunting, which we need more of a discussion on. Not to mention the great tasting note sections.

Rinella is my favorite

The book was fantastic, I like listening to Steve read it even more. I now need to get all his other books

Always A Pleasure

I always enjoy listening to Steven Rinella. Relaxed, insightful and you feel like you are actually there with him

Outstanding

Just great from start to finish. Any outdoors person will enjoy. Performance was also great.

Real life application of knowledge and lessons

Fantastic writing about a subject I’m becoming increasingly more fond of. A book that provides context around the background and ethics of an American hunter in modern times.

Ancient art of storytelling

Truly one of the best storytellers of our time. A book like the Bible or other ancient works that provide stories that you will be chewing on for months after reading.

Steve’s early childhood memories of hunting

For someone that hunts, I found it refreshing hearing these stories but it may not transfer to someone that has not had the experience of hunting themselves. Though his childhood experiences helps the listener understand why he hunts and yearns for the outdoors