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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 17, 2020 at 10:53:37 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Bailey on Kelly, 'The Hunter Elite: > Manly Sport, Hunting Narratives, and American Conservation, 1880-1925' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Tara Kathleen Kelly. The Hunter Elite: Manly Sport, Hunting > Narratives, and American Conservation, 1880-1925. Lawrence > University Press of Kansas, 2018. 360 pp. $27.95 (paper), ISBN > 978-0-7006-2588-8; $55.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7006-2587-1. > > Reviewed by Taylor Bailey (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) > Published on H-Environment (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > Since the mid-1970s, environmental historians of the United States > have become increasingly attentive to the role sport hunters played > in the Progressive conservation movement. Whereas earlier histories > of environmental politics during this era had primarily focused on > the technocratic utilitarianism of Gifford Pinchot and the romantic > preservationism of John Muir, foundational studies by John F. Reiger > and Thomas R. Dunlap showed how elite big-game hunters and their > private clubs successfully lobbied for closed shooting seasons, bans > on commercial hunting, and the creation of numerous wildlife refuges > and national parks. More recently, historians have explored how this > "sportsmen's program" of conservation laws, in the interest of > preserving game for future hunters, largely reflected upper-class > interests. Louis Warren's _The Hunter's Game: Poachers and > Conservationists in Twentieth-Century America _(1997), Karl Jacoby's > _Crimes against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden > History of American Conservation _(2001), and Scott Giltner's > _Hunting and Fishing in the New South: Black Labor and White Leisure > after the Civil War _(2008), for example, have used the lens of > social history to investigate the ways protective game laws > criminalized the hunting and subsistence practices of working-class > whites, European immigrants, indigenous people, and African > Americans. But how did this exclusive group of wealthy recreational > hunters manage to achieve widespread public support for their > particular brand of class-based conservation in the first place? > > The answer, according to Tara Kathleen Kelly, lies in the changing > cultural meaning of sport hunting. In _The Hunter Elite: Manly Sport, > Hunting Narratives, and American Conservation, 1880-1925_, Kelly > charts the emergence of a new and unique form of leisure hunting--the > "still hunt," or "the stalk"--that gained popularity among East Coast > elites during the Gilded Age. Sportsmen who took part in this > time-consuming method of pursuit developed a set of hunting ethics > that gave game a fair chance of escape ("the fair chase") and > reconstituted the hunt as a site for the development and display of > moral character. In the process of bagging a trophy, middle- and > upper-class hunters could demonstrate self-restraint, patience, and > willpower, which, in their view, differentiated them from the > commercialism and "pot-hunting" of less affluent marksmen. The > performance of ethical sportsmanship also took place in print, where > stalking narratives penned by members of what Kelly terms "the hunter > elite" appeared in best-selling books, recreational magazines, and > general audience periodicals like _Scribner's__,__ Collier's__, _and > _Harper's Weekly_. When populations of North American wildlife > declined precipitously at the end of the nineteenth century, > sportsmen enthusiastically embraced conservation, leveraging their > national media platforms to rally public support for game laws and > wilderness preservation. This combination of political power and > media influence, Kelly argues, "gave [the hunter elite] a voice with > which no other single group of hunters could compete" (p. 247). > > _The Hunter Elite _is divided into three parts. Part 1, "Tales of the > Sportsmen-Hunter," explores how social, economic, and technological > changes at the end of the nineteenth century transformed recreational > hunting and gave rise to the American still-hunting narrative. In the > years before and immediately after the Civil War, well-to-do > northeasterners largely regarded hunting as a vacation activity that > offered social opportunities for the display of elite status and > wealth. But by the early 1880s, prominent American sportsmen > increasingly began to associate big-game hunting with values derived > from the Protestant work ethic, namely, "the primacy of the will" and > the "manly virtues" of temperance, discipline, and self-control. > Kelly attributes this shift in meaning to changes in the American > economy that took place during the Second Industrial Revolution. > Corporatization and the growth of salaried jobs made it difficult for > middle-class men to cultivate manliness in the workplace, and among > the upper class, money was no longer a reliable identifier of > patrician background. Sportsmen responded to these cultural anxieties > by formulating an ethical code that outlined what, when, and how game > should be pursued, differentiating them from both lower-class market > and subsistence hunters and other (less virtuous) wealthy men. The > rapid expansion of railroad and steamship travel during the latter > half of the century also made remote hunting grounds more accessible, > further contributing to the appeal of the still hunt. > > Sportsmen could demonstrate manly character in the field, but many of > them also chose to convert their experiences into published stories, > books, and travelogues. In 1882, New Jersey lawyer Theodore S. Van > Dyke published a collection of hunting narratives titled _The > Still-Hunter_,_ _which sparked the creation of a new American > literary genre that centered on the moral significance of the stalk. > The narratives produced by the hunter elite did not follow a set > formula or design; Kelly argues they are better described as a > "discourse" that encompassed five principle themes: the redefinition > of hunting as productive, strenuous work (rather than leisure), the > promotion of ethical sportsmanship, invocations of the frontier or > pioneer past, an emphasis on the contributions of hunting to natural > history, and virtuous manliness. As the publishing industry grew in > the late nineteenth century, the owners and editors of major > publishing companies, middle-class periodicals, and recreational > magazines turned stalking narratives into profitable commodities that > attracted a wide readership. East Coast publishing elites were often > sportsmen themselves who joined one another on hunting trips and > claimed membership in exclusive organizations like the Boone and > Crockett Club, founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird > Grinnell, editor of _Forest and Stream_. In the last chapter of part > 1, Kelly profiles Caspar Whitney, the editor of _Outing _magazine and > author of numerous hunting books, whose career "dissolv[ed] the > barriers between hunt and narrative, product and producer" (p. 102). > Through their deep connections to the publishing industry, the > sportsmen-writers were able to effectively shape the ways that > recreational hunting was presented to the public. > > The second section, "Fellow Travelers," analyzes the role that women > and British hunters played in the formation of the sportsmen-hunter > discourse. Although the majority of hunting narratives were written > by native-born, white, Protestant men, books and articles composed by > female hunters calling themselves "Modern Dianas" were also popular. > Women hunter-writers were able to achieve publishing success, Kelly > contends, because the discourse of the hunter elite--despite > employing the rhetoric of nineteenth-century manliness--was not based > in a rejection of femininity but in the development of character > traits, values, and behaviors that were not exclusive to men. "The > opposite of the true sportsman," Kelly points out, "was not a woman > but rather a brute, a creature, the game hog, and female hunters > could also reject associations with such a beast" (p. 149). Female > hunters elided discussions of manliness in their narratives but > upheld the virtues of the still hunt, drawing similar connections to > sportsmanship, restraint, and willpower. In contrast, British > big-game hunters were excluded from the sportsman-hunter discourse > and their methods were often depicted as unsportsmanlike. British > hunting narratives predated the American still-hunting genre by > several decades, but unlike the narratives of the hunter elite, > British writers explicitly linked sport hunting to imperialism, > violence, and war. When American sportsmen began traveling to > colonial outposts in Africa and South Asia more frequently at the > turn of the century to hunt big game, they came into greater contact > with British hunters in the field. In their published accounts and > travelogues, US hunter-writers used encounters with British sportsmen > abroad to highlight national differences and affirm the moral > superiority of American sportsmanship. > > In part 3, "Discourse and Consequences," Kelly examines the social, > economic, and political effects of the hunter elite's practices and > ideology. The first chapter explores how the rise of international > hunting tourism fostered the creation of local "guide economies" > catering to the needs of visiting big-game hunters. Like their > European counterparts, well-off American sportsmen often hired > trackers, gunbearers, servants, and porters to ensure a successful > expedition. As the demand for skilled and reliable guides grew, guide > work became a licensed and regulated profession. "Guides ... > understood themselves as employees," Kelly explains; "to them, the > hunt and the trophy were commodities bought and paid for" (p. 205). > In their narratives, sportsmen praised guides who were especially > trustworthy or adept at their jobs, but because the moral > significance of the stalk was predicated on the expertise of the > individual hunter, not a dependence on outside help, many > hunter-writers downplayed the guide's role. The final two chapters > analyze the relationship between the hunter elite and the > conservation movement. In response to declining supplies of game, > sportsmen took up the conservation cause at the very end of the > nineteenth century. Hunter-writers linked wildlife preservation to > the ideals of ethical sportsmanship, manly self-restraint, and > patriotism already present in the discourse, and on the lobbying > front, used their elite political connections and considerable > influence in the national press to help enact federal game > legislation and establish forest reserves and national parks. Despite > longstanding public opposition to game laws in the United States > dating back to the colonial era, the hunter elite's agenda prevailed > because they effectively redefined the parameters of the debate to > reflect Progressive-Era political concerns. In the eyes of sport > hunting advocates, game laws were not "class legislation" that aimed > to restrict the hunting activities of the poor and working class but > safeguards in a contentious battle against "selfish private > interests"--timber barons, mining companies, and commercial > hunters--who valued short-term profits over the public good (p. 247). > Ironically though, through their strident efforts to preserve game > for future generations of recreational hunters, the hunter elite > ended up severely limiting their own ability to participate in the > stalk. By the 1920s, Kelly writes, "the sportsmen-hunters had helped > to legislate their own hunting out of existence" (p. 264). > > _The Hunter Elite_ is an impressive and provocative study that makes > several notable contributions to the current historiography. First, > sportsmen and their narratives are afforded a much greater degree of > nuance in Kelly's text than in previous works. Elite big-game hunters > were a complex group whose values and practices shifted over time. As > Kelly reveals in chapter 1, prior to the 1880s American sportsmen > frequently partook in the methods of professional market > hunters--such as "jacklighting" (shining a light on game at night to > blind them), "snowcrusting" (pursuing game in the snow on snowshoes), > or hounding (pursuing game with dogs)--unlike their more ethically > minded successors. Secondly, familiar figures in the history of > big-game hunting, particularly Theodore Roosevelt, are placed into > better historical context. Roosevelt, who has often served as the > quintessential representative of American-style sport hunting in many > accounts, played an influential role in incorporating the wilderness > myth, manliness, and "the strenuous life" into the sportsmen-hunter > discourse, but when his narratives are compared to the hundreds of > other hunting narratives published during the period, the connections > he drew to imperialism and war are anomalous. Roosevelt's exceptional > status (his obscene kill counts aroused the ire of his > contemporaries) drives home one of Kelly's central points: that the > turn-of-the-century sportsmen-writers explicitly disavowed any > association between their form of hunting and violence, military > training, or atavism. For the hunter elite, the stalk was a ritual > activity for the cultivation and performance of manly character, not > a celebration of the kill. While some reviewers have noted occasional > shifts between past and present tense in Kelly's prose, this is > common in literary studies and does not detract from the book's > achievements. _The Hunter Elite _will be of interest to historians > studying hunting, publishing, and conservation during the Progressive > Era, as well as scholars of gender, leisure, media, and environmental > politics. > > Citation: Taylor Bailey. Review of Kelly, Tara Kathleen, _The Hunter > Elite: Manly Sport, Hunting Narratives, and American Conservation, > 1880-1925_. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54807 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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