Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2023 New Mexico-Arizona Book AwardReading the West Longlist for Nonfiction No animal shakes the human consciousness quite like a bear, and few compare to the giant short-faced bears that stalked North America during the Pleistocene. Even among the mammoths and saber-toothed cats, they were a staggering sight: on all fours, the biggest would stare a six-foot person in the face and weigh close to a ton. On hind legs they towered more than ten feet, with jaws powerful enough to crush skulls and snap bones like twigs.
The bears weren’t invincible, however. Despite their size, they were swept off the planet in a mysterious wave of Ice Age extinctions more than ten thousand years ago, then mostly forgotten.
Chasing the Ghost Bear is Mike Stark’s journey into the bear’s enigmatic story—its life, disappearance, and rediscovery—and those trying to piece it together today. An engaging guide through his
Trade Review"This book is journalism at its best."—Vernon Schmid,
RoundUp Magazine“Thank heavens for Mike Stark for rummaging around in creepy caves, unearthing remote museum curators, and otherwise doing the far-flung homework needed to bring us this compelling elegy to one of prehistoric North America’s most spectacular carnivores.”—Paul Schullery, author of
Lewis and Clark among the Grizzlies and
The Bear Doesn’t Know “A finely crafted mosaic of natural history, historical drama, and personal odyssey—seasoned with musings about the impermanence of life. . . . Mike Stark has managed to bring back to life not only this fascinating animal—
Arctodus simus, the giant short-faced bear—but also the paleontologists who risked life and limb pursuing its scattered remains.”—David Mattson, former longtime grizzly bear scientist for the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey
"Readers with an interest in paleontology, zoology, or ecology will find this book fascinating. Those unfamiliar with these disciplines may find their curiosity piqued by opening the book."—J. Kemper Campbell,
Lincoln Journal Star"A must-have for anyone with an interest in prehistoric bears!"—
Birdbooker ReportTable of ContentsContents
List of Illustrations
Part 1: The Beast Is Here
1. Into the Dark
2. Skull
3. A Family of Bears
4. Bone Trove
5. Inside
6. Into the Pleistocene
7. Bears in Proximity
8. Bears Are Everywhere
Part 2: Goo
9. La Brea
10. Hiding in the Muck
11. Teeth and Bones
12. A Surge of Discovery
Part 3: Bones
13. What Happened in Fulton County
14. Real Monsters
15. A Hoosier’s Search
16. Dispossessed
Part 4: North and South
17. Fitful Arrivals
18. Imagining
Arctodus 19. The Great and Far North
20. Lubbock
21. Ancient Hunters
Part 5: Last Stand
22. Endings
23. What Happened?
24. De-extinction
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
