Bear Bibliography

Bear Bibliography

The McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West suggests the following bibliography for further reading on bears of North America.

Annotations on selected resources are bolded.

Andreski, Blaise, and Tom Parr. The Trap Collector’s Guide: Bear Traps. Second edition, [Publisher not identified], 2010.

Bauer, Erwin A., and Peggy Bauer. Bears: Behavior, Ecology, Conservation. Voyageur Press, 1996. Black, brown, and grizzly bears considered with human interactions.

Brown, David E., and John A. Murray. The Last Grizzly: And Other Southwestern Bear Stories. University of Arizona Press, 1988. Bear stories compiled from published literature, 1826 to 1986.

Brunner, Bernd. Bears: A Brief History. Yale University Press, 2007. A worldwide survey of human-bear interaction over time, written for a popular audience, with references.

Clark, Susan G. Carnivores in Ecosystems: The Yellowstone Experience. Yale University Press, 1999. Bears compared with other carnivores in modeling of the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Craighead, Frank C., Jr. Track of the Grizzly. Sierra Club Books, 1979. Natural history of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park.

Craighead, John J., Jay S. Sumner, and John A. Mitchell. The Grizzly Bears of Yellowstone: Their Ecology in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, 1959-1992. Island Press, 1995. Classic.

Dax, Michael J. Grizzly West: A Failed Attempt to Reintroduce Grizzly Bears in the Mountain West. University of Nebraska Press, 2015. Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness plan for grizzly reintroduction on the Idaho/Montana border, and the resultant political controversy.

Evans, Will F. Hunting Grizzlys, Black Bear and Lions: “Big-time” On the Old Ranches. High-Lonesome Books., 2001. Bear hunting stories from Texas.

Ewers, John C., and Jane Ewers Robinson. Plains Indian Art: The Pioneering Work of John C. Ewers. University of Oklahoma Press, 2011. Chapter 6 on bear motifs in art.

Forest Plan Amendments for Grizzly Bear Conservation for the Greater Yellowstone Area National Forests: Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Executive Summary. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, 2006. Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Forest Plan Amendments for Grizzly Bear Conservation for the Greater Yellowstone Area National Forests: Draft Environmental Impact Statement. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, 2004. Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

A Gathering of Grizzlies. Park County Library Board, 2008. Art project using 25 grizzly bear sculptures, cast from a Jeff Rudolph original, for Park County, Wyoming library fundraising.

Glover, Cal. A Grizzly Death in Yellowstone. Homestead Pub., 1994. Fiction set in Yellowstone National Park.

Harris, Adam Duncan, et al. Survival of the Fittest: Envisioning Wildlife and Wilderness with the Big Four: Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum Twenthe and the National Museum of Wildlife Art. National Museum of Wildlife Art, 2023. Includes bear artwork of Carl Rungius.

Haynes, Bessie Doak., Edgar Haynes, Mary Baker, and Harold McCracken. The Grizzly Bear: Portraits From Life. University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. Historical overview of writings on grizzly bears.

Heamealeainen, Riku. Bear Power Motifs on Plains Indian Shields =: Bearenmotive in Schildbemalungen Der Plainsindianer. Tatanka Press, 2010.

Herrero, Stephen. Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. Nick Lyons Books/ Winchester Press, 1985.

Hubbard, W. P., and Seale Harris. Notorious Grizzly Bears. Sage Books, 1960. Stories of bears with reputations.

Lapham, Heather A., and Gregory A. Waselkov. Bears: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives in Native Eastern North America. University of Florida Press, 2020.

Lynch, Wayne. Bears: Monarchs of the Northern Wilderness. Greystone Books, 1993. Natural history of bear species of the northern hemisphere, including the Asian brown bear, with the author’s notable photography.

Manfred, Frederick Feikema. Lord Grizzly. McGraw-Hill, 1954. Historical fiction of the Hugh Glass mountain man bear attack.

McCracken, Harold, Nathan E. Bender, and Paul Schullery. The Beast That Walks Like Man: The Story of the Grizzly Bear. Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 2003. Grizzly bear photography and hunting in Alaska and the Rocky Mountains in the early to mid- 20th century.

McLaird, James D. Hugh Glass: Grizzly Survivor. South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2016. Famous mountain man bear attack story from the old western fur trade days.

McMillion, Scott. Mark of the Grizzly: True Stories of Recent Bear Attacks and the Hard Lessons Learned. Falcon Pub., 1998.

McNamee, Thomas, and Gordon Allen. The Grizzly Bear. McGraw-Hill paperback edition, McGraw-Hill, 1986. Follows a grizzly bear and her cubs in Yellowstone over the course of several seasons.

Murie, Adolph. The Grizzlies of Mount McKinley. University of Washington Press, 1985. Alaskan bear study at Mount McKinley/Denali over a 25-year period.

Murphy, Bob (Robert J.). Bears I Have Known. Riverbend Publishing, 2006. Yellowstone National Park ranger stories.

Murray, John A. Grizzly Bears: An Illustrated Field Guide. Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1995. Natural history of grizzly bears and advice for campers and hikers in bear country.

___. The Great Bear: Contemporary Writings on the Grizzly. Alaska Northwest Books, 1992. Seventeen bear essays by modern naturalists.

Neal, Chuck. Grizzlies in the Mist. Homestead Publishing, 2003. Yellowstone grizzly bears.

Nisbet, Robert A. Olive Florence Fell: Cody, Wyoming Artist (1896-1980). Robert A. Nisbet, 2019. Olive Fell, local Cody artist, became famous for illustrations of Wyoming bear cubs.

Olsen, Jack. Night of the Grizzlies. Putnam, 1969. Why the National Park Service no longer baits bears as a tourist attraction.

Ormond, Clyde. Bear!: Black, Grizzly, Brown, Polar. Stackpole Co, 1961. Hunting guidebook.

Pastoureau, Michel, and George Holoch. The Bear: History of a Fallen King. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011. European bear symbolism.

Peacock, Doug. Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness. H. Holt, 1996. Wide ranging essays on bears and wilderness.

Peacock, Doug, and Andrea Peacock. The Essential Grizzly: The Mingled Fates of Men and Bears. Lyons Press, 2006. Human-bear interactions.

Pritchard, James A. Preserving Yellowstone’s Natural Conditions: Science and the Perception of Nature. University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Wildlife management in YNP, including bear management.

Prodgers, Jeanette, and W. Leslie Pengelly. The Only Good Bear: Historic Bear Stories of the Western Frontier. Riverbend, 2011(originally 1986). A collection selected from published historic sources.

Rattenbury, Richard. The Art of American Arms Makers: Marketing Guns, Ammunition, and Western Adventure During the Golden Age of Illustration. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 2004. Includes fierce bear images for selling firearms.

___. Hunting the American West: The Pursuit of Big Game for Life, Profit, and Sport From 1800-1900. Boone & Crockett Club, 2008. Includes information on hunting black and grizzly bears from a historical perspective.

Reed, Tom. Great Wyoming Bear Stories. Riverbend Publishing, 2003.

Roosevelt, Theodore, and Paul Schullery. American Bears: Selections From the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt. Colorado Associated University Press, 1983.

Russell, Andy. Grizzly Country. Knopf, 1967. Canadian and Alaskan grizzly bears.

Savage, Candace, and Andy Russell. Grizzly Bears. Sierra Club Books, 1990. Photographic essay with images selected from a wide variety of nature photographers.

Schullery, Paul. Lewis and Clark Among the Grizzlies: Legend and Legacy in the American West. Globe Pequot Press, 2002. The Corps of Discovery encounter the grizzly bear.

____. The Bears of Yellowstone. Revised edition. Robert Rinehart, in cooperation with the National Park Foundation, 1986. Natural history written for a general audience.

____. The Bear Doesn’t Know: Life and Wonder in Bear Country. University of Nebraska Press, 2021. Observations on bears.

____. Mark of the Bear: Legend and Lore of an American Icon. Sierra Club Books, 1996. Compilation of bear essays and photographs by leading writers and nature photographers.

____. Yellowstone Bear Tales. R. Rinehart, 1991. Yellowstone National Park bear stories.

Seton, Ernest Thompson, Jeremy M. Johnston, and Charles R. Preston. Wahb: The Biography of a Grizzly. University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. New edition of 1900 original work of juvenile fiction.

Stehsel, Donald L. Hunting the California Black Bear. D. L. Stehsel, 1965. Guidebook.

Treadwell, Timothy, and Jewel Palovak. Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska. HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997. Eight summers observing and interacting with a grizzly family group in Alaska.
Vest, Waymon, and S. Newhouse. S. Newhouse Bear Traps & the Oneida Community: 1865 Newhouse Trapper’s Guide: A Reprint of the First Edition. Waymon Vest, 2007.

Ward, Kennan. Grizzlies in the Wild. NorthWord Press, 1994. Grizzly bear photography.

Whittlesey, Lee H. Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1995. Includes fatal attacks by grizzly bears.

Vintage titles

Grinnell, George Bird. American Big Game in Its Haunts: The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club. Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 1904. Includes essays on bear hunting on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

Hittell, Theodore Henry, and Grizzly Adams. The Adventures of James Capen Adams: Mountaineer and Grizzly Bear Hunter of California. Crosby, Nichols, Lee, and Co.; Towne and Bacon, 1860. Text also available in several reprints.

Merriam, C. Hart. Review of the Grizzly and Big Brown Bears of North America (genus Ursus): With Description of a New Genus, Vetularctos. Government Printing Office, 1918.

Miller, Joaquin, and Pierre N. Beringer. True Bear Stories. Rand, McNally & Co., 1900. California emphasis.

Mills, Enos A. The Grizzly: Our Greatest Wild Animal. Houghton Mifflin, 1919.

Roosevelt, Theodore. Hunting Trips of a Ranchman: Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900 (originally published 1885). Includes accounts of bear hunting, by the man who inspired the Teddy Bear.

Seton, Ernest Thompson. The Biography of a Grizzly: And 75 Drawings. Century Co., 1900/1920. Vintage juvenile fiction, see 2015 new edition.

____. Monarch, the Big Bear of Tallac. Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904. Fiction, with wonderful pen and ink illustrations.

Skinner, Milton P. Bears in the Yellowstone. A. C. McClurg, 1932 (originally 1925).

Smith, F. Dumont, and Albert Turner Reid. Book of a Hundred Bears. Second edition, Rand McNally, 1909. Much on Yellowstone bears.

Stevens, Montague. Meet Mr. Grizzly: A Saga on the Passing of the Grizzly. University of New Mexico Press, 1943. Bear hunting stories, expanded edition reprinted 2002 by High-Lonesome Books.

Wied, Maximilian, and Karl Wilhelm Mayer. Über Die Selbstständigkeit. Der Species Des Ursus Ferox Desm. Der Akademie Ubergeben Den, 1856. German scientific description of the grizzly bear.

Wright, William H. The Grizzly Bear: The Narrative of a Hunter-naturalist. Foreword by Frank C. Craighead, Jr. University of Nebraska Press, 1977 (first published 1909). Hunter and influential pioneering conservationist.

Modern Children’s Book Titles

Feeney, Kathy, and John F. McGee. Black Bears. NorthWord Press, 2000. Black bear natural history for kids.

Hunt, Joni Phelps. A Band of Bears: The Rambling Life of a Lovable Loner. London Town Press, 2006. Bear natural history for young children.

Robinson, Sandra Chisholm., and Gail Kohler Opsahl. The Everywhere Bear. Denver Museum of Natural History; Roberts Rinehart, 1992. Includes games.

Rush, Anne Kent. Greta Bear Goes to Yellowstone National Park. Greta Bear Enterprizes, 1984. Adventure of a toy bear named Greta.

June 2025/ Nathan E. Bender