Monday, December 06, 2010

Outdoor Writing

If you're anything like me, you love the old outdoor writers. I grew up reading Skeeter Skelton, Jack O'Connor, Nash Buckingham and Gene Hill. I also like other writers like Peter Capstick and ... well, the list goes on and on.

I was recently pointed to one heck of a trove of old outdoor writing, hosted at a place called NitroExpress.com. They've probably got a hundred different articles and books linked as archives and the reading list is extensive. I'm currently reading The Man Eaters of Tsavo, a book written in 1907 by Lieutenant Colonel J.H. Patterson. If you don't know the story, it's about a young engineer who went to Africa in the latter part of the 19th Century to help build a railroad from Tsavo to Nairobi, and the work was halted by a pair of man-eating lions who feasted on the imported labor. The book was digitized by Microsoft for the University of California. Helluva story.

At any rate, Mostly Cajun pointed me to the link, for which I am eternally grateful. This archive will encompass my reading list for the next year or so. It's great stuff.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What?
No Patrick McManus???
http://patrickfmcmanus.com/

Pawpaw said...

Medic - They shoot canoes, don't they?

I can read Tenner Shoe Blight right now and collapse in fits of mirth. Yeah, I read McManus. The list is really too long to list.

Old NFO said...

Good stuff! Thanks for the link!

Termite said...

Thank you for posting the Nitro Express link here.

BTW, I have some Capstick and Ruark books if you want to borrow them.
Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy should be required reading for all fathers and granfathers.

Anonymous said...

Once you have finished reading the Man Eaters of Tsavo, you might want to see if you can get the movie The Ghost and the Darkness. It was "adapted" from the book and is reputed to, for Hollywood standards, closely follow the book. I've seen the movie and thought it was interesting.

(Congratulations on your "new" Ruger revolver.)

CU74