Description: Deep in the wilds of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains there may still lurk a remnant population of the lower 48’s most fearsome mammal: Ursus arctos horribilis.
By 1952 it was widely assumed that the grizzly had been extirpated from Colorado. That is, until one September evening in 1979 when a hunting outfitter named Ed Wiseman was attacked by a 400-pound golden-haired bear. The severely mauled man (and the dead bear) confirmed what knowledgeable San Juan residents already knew: the Colorado grizzly was no ghost.
     What led up to and has happened since that encounter almost 30 years ago is the subject of this story about the bear and our own species in the wild — and what the future may hold for both.
     “A sharp portrait of the conflict between people and wilderness.” — Publisher’s Weekly

Description: In Heartsblood, nationally acclaimed nature writer and veteran outdoorsman David Petersen takes a clear-eyed look at humans and hunting, and reaches conclusions sure to challenge everyone’s preconceptions. He draws clear distinctions between true hunting and contemporary hunter behavior, praising what’s right about the former and damning what’s wrong with the latter. Along with his extensive personal experience, Petersen draws on philosophy, evolutionary science, biology, and empirical studies to create an engaging and literate work that offers a unique look at hunting, hunters, anti-hunting, and, in the words of the author, "life’s basic truths."
     “The man convinces me. I not only respect his practice of hunting, I am in awe of it…. Petersen practices a kind of awareness akin to that of the great spiritual traditions.” — Washington Post Book World

Description: In Elkheart, critically acclaimed naturalist and essayist David Petersen presents a deeply personal, intimately informed, and (by his own admission) “somewhat eccentric” portrait of the North American elk, or wapiti, and its wild and woolly world.
     “Elkheart is a fascinating journey into the soul of a man whose passion is the America elk, whose spirit lives deep in the mountain country, and whose voice resonates with the power of the wild.” — Richard Nelson

Description: A dedicated naturalist and a writer’s writer, David Petersen spends a lot of time outdoors in the Rocky Mountain West. Whether in the aspen groves of the forests around his cabin in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, or watching grizzlies in Montana, or visiting the hidden desert grave of his friend and mentor, Edward Abbey, Petersen goes places many of us will never see except through his words. He writes with great clarity and elegance of expression, while constantly renewing and reexamining his relationship to nature. The Nearby Faraway is an abridged autobiography of the author’s life and travels (both geographical and spiritual) in the American West — a rich and moving collection from one of the West’s most thoughtful, honest, and down-to-earth writers.
     “Petersen writes with wit, clarity, and transparent grace, out of expert and personal knowledge of his subject. Furthermore and best of all, unlike most of our contemporary nature writers, he does not shy away from matters of controversy.” — Edward Abbey

Description:At once incendiary and insightful, cantankerous and profoundly perceptive, Edward Abbey was a singular American writer and cult hero, as famous for books like Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang as he was infamous for the persona of "Cactus Ed." Abbey's postcards and letters, legandary during his lifetime, selected and edited by his friend Dave Petersen, convey the fullness of the man and reveal, along with his wisdom and savage wit, a tender side seldom seen before. For readers new to Abbey, this collection is an awe-inspiring introduction to the man and his works. And for devoted fans, the letters chronicle his evolution as an authentic American voice in the wilderness.
     "An essential addition to American literature." — Booklist (starred review)

Description: Thoughtful, self-examining essays by 41 no-nonsense writers, including Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, Thomas McGuane, Terry Tempest Williams. John Mitchell, A. B. Guthrie Jr., Jimmy Carter, John Madson, Jim Posewitz, Ted Williams, Russell Chatham, Ted Kerasote, Peter Matthiessen, David Petersen, and more.
     "If you are a hunter, these stories will make you take a hard look at yourself. If you are a non-hunter, they will demand the same. This isn’t a book you can swallow in one sitting. Each essay is a story unto itself, and often, each one demands an entirely different frame of mind.... This book is designed to make people think, and it will." — The Detroit Daily News

Description: David Petersen is a writer’s writer. With a quarter-century of continuous freelancing, overlain by a dozen years as a staff magazine editor and a decade as a college writing instructor, and with hundreds of magazine pieces and 15 nonfiction books (all with nature themes, plus more than 40 children’s educational nonfiction titles), this critically acclaimed author is uniquely qualified to write about his genre and craft.
     “David Petersen writes with the precision of a scientist and the passion of a poet. I have a hunch he spends more time outside than in because his prose is alive.” — Terry Tempest Williams