Charles, Mr. Bear is probably my favorite figure in archery and certainly in modern archery but-and I know I'm asking for a blasting- he didn't actually write these books as such; The Archer's Bible was mostly written by Charlie Kroll with input from Bear and ultimately signed off on by Bear. The "Bible" series included books on just about every outdoor activity and well known people within the given sport. It's a great guide to have and Bear and his ideas are obviously very present in the text but it was not penned by Bear alone or even mostly. The "Field Notes" were actually written by Fred's wife, Henrietta, from the information and narratives she edited from Mr. Bear's actual notebooks that he kept religiously while in the field. I couldn't comment on the "World of Archery" book but would have to assume that it is a compiled "group effort" considering the incredible amount of time involved with producing a book-especially at that time- pre-PC- and Mr. Bear's many other time consuming interests and committments. I am in no way devaluing these books or Mr. Bear's input or reputation; ghost writers are very often used. For instance, Dick Lattimer was heavily involved with Kroll's bio of Bear but is given no editorial credit in the final product. The best examples of Bear's writing is probably in the articles written in the late forties and early fifties for periodicals such as the ones that chronicle his hunts with Knick Knickerbocker for Moose and some of his pieces on equipment like the arrow article in "Ye Silvan Archer." He was a very good writer in his own right and much fun to read. I hope I haven't offended anyone by pointing this out; the last thing I want to do is slam Fred Bear. Grant
Topic: Books written by Fred Bear (Read 510 times)
