Hey, it's a double barreled name....
A mate just gave me an old beat up copy of P H Capstick's "Man Eaters"
Don't want to get into his literary skills or anything else here...
But on the blank page before the book begins , written in pencil, is "83 (Could be 85) Stick's"
I 'd read the whole book before I saw the words.
It is written in a bold hand, seems like who ever wrote it had done it many times, kinda flashy yet quick
Just wondered if anyone had heard of him signing books this way.
It would be cool if it was him ,as he got me started on the
older, & to to me better writtings of the likes of Hunter,Selous(e?) etc
Just curious if it might possibly be original ?
There are no case colours left, APS,so you're all set Pal
Thank you guys
Franc
I have read almost all of the Capstick books to my son at bedtime. He is now 9 years old and we have "graduated" to JA Hunter, but Capstick will always be my favorite, hemorrhaging sunsets and all.
I would love to find a set of Capstick's books bound in blue boar hide that I couldn't afford as a college student when I last saw a set for sale.
CHAZ
Hoof,
I saw some signed sets on Ebay, I think, 2or3 Grands worth or more,perhaps i'm missing some zeros?
Yes , he was a good one for describing the Sunrise/Set , eh??
Franc
But was his nickname "Stick's"??
"Chapstick" was his nickname with outdoor writers. Once he'd finished writing about his own adventures, he started retelling the adventures of other big game hunters--most of whom had written first person accounts (Jim Corbett being one example I recall). An excerpt of Capstick retelling Corbett was published in Peterson's Hunting, with reference to the Capstick book from which it was lifted at the end of the article. I wrote a letter to the editor, pointing out that it might be of interest to readers to reference the fact that Corbett himself wrote several first person accounts of his adventures. To give the magazine credit, they did that the next time they published a Capstick article.
Hoof,
I saw some signed sets on Ebay, I think, 2or3 Grands worth or more,perhaps i'm missing some zeros?
So I still can't afford them, great!
CHAZ
Interestingly (at least to me), I just had an inquiry about an Abercrombie & Fitch OU that was purchased in 1939. The buyer was Ruth Capstick which, it appears, was the name of Peter Hathaway Capstick's mother. She lived in Boonton, New Jersey at the time and the shotgun is still in that general area.
Bob Beach
Griffin & Howe Archivist
For what it's worth, the great Jack O'Connor believed Capstick was a poseur and fraud. Still, the Capstick books are a good read. Then, so is Erich Von Daniken.
"Chariots of Death In The Long Grass"?
I have read almost all of the Capstick books to my son at bedtime. He is now 9 years old and we have "graduated" to JA Hunter, but Capstick will always be my favorite, hemorrhaging sunsets and all.
I would love to find a set of Capstick's books bound in blue boar hide that I couldn't afford as a college student when I last saw a set for sale.
CHAZ
Check out the specialist dealers in big-game books on
http://www.abaa.orgor look up the titles directly on
http://www.bookfinder.com
He was a great writer and I enjoy his work.
For what it is worth, I hunted out of one of his old camps on the Luangwa River in Zambia. The locals there knew him and said he was a bartender, not a professional hunter. They said he picked up the materials for his stories while tending bar. Whatever the source, he was did some good stories.
I think Capstick sent more American hunters to Africa than anyone/anything else.
He does deserve some credit for a resurgence in interest in classic books on big game hunting in Africa and Asia, written by authors with, shall we say, less questioned credentials as hunters?
Actually, PHC was an apprentice PH. A friend and fellow club member of mine actually was on safari with him on a 3 week trip with his father after his graduation from Yale. He is mentioned by PHC in one of his books when a record animal was taken. I met him once myself. He appeared to me to be a charming guy who drank and wrote stories. It is true as many PHs, including my own, have stated, PHC did more for the the African Safari trade than anyone since Theodore Roosevelt. The books of both of them sent me on the road to 6 African safaris and after all TR's Nobel prize was for Peace not Literature...Most of the people who critize PHC have never set foot in Africa.
I have been a fan of Capstick's books for years. I own the entire set and have enjoyed reading them over and over. His books turned me on to others such as Bell, Selous, etc. His publisher released a set called the "Capstick Adventure Library Series" that contained reprints of some fabulous books written around the 1890-1910 era.
Capstick also has a DVD set which my wife purchased for my birthday last year. It's ok for what it is. If I wasn't a fan of his books I probably would not have watched them all.
I thought he was a stock broker???
I've liked many of Capstick's tales, both before and after my own trip to southern Africa.
Maybe the only one I think ill-advised is his story about hosing a troop of baboons one day in a palm grove, using some high-cap weapon like a Mac-10. It was clear in his telling of the story that he got off on how is was like combat or murder. Contrived by a man who was probably never close to either....
I thought he was a stock broker???
Ken,
He was a stock broker before he became involved with the outdoor industry. He began working for Olin IIRC and was handling outfitters in South America. After his time in South America he went to Africa to become a PH.
The below information is from Wikipedia.
Peter Hathaway Capstick (1940–1996) was an American hunter and author. Born in New Jersey and educated at the University of Virginia, he walked away from a successful Wall Street career shortly before his thirtieth birthday to become a professional hunter, first in Central and South America and later (and most famously) in Africa. Capstick spent much of his life in Africa, a land he called his "source of inspiration." A chain smoker and heavy drinker, he died at age 56 from complications following heart surgery.
After a short career as a Wall Street stockbroker, Capstick headed to Latin America, where he traveled widely while hunting, fishing, and mastering the Spanish language. A few years later he returned to New York, where he founded a business arranging professionally guided hunting trips. Shortly thereafter he took a position as hunting and fishing director of Winchester Adventures of New York, a subsidiary of the famous gun manufacturer. In that capacity he made his first trip to Africa in 1968. Subsequently he worked as a professional hunter and game ranger in Zambia, Botswana and Rhodesia.
Capstick started writing about his adventures in the late 1960s, and published numerous articles in various sporting magazines. In 1977 he published his first book, Death in the Long Grass, which became a commercial success and established his reputation as an author of true adventure stories. Capstick is frequently compared to Ernest Hemingway and Robert Ruark in discussions of influential African hunting authors.
In early 1996 Capstick was a keynote speaker at the annual Safari Club International convention in Reno, Nevada when he collapsed in his hotel room and was diagnosed with exhaustion. He was immediately flown back to his adopted country of South Africa and underwent heart bypass surgery in a Pretoria hospital. He died just before midnight on March 13 of complications from surgery.
After a small private ceremony, his ashes were scattered over the Chobe River in northeastern Botswana.
The .470 Capstick rifle cartridge, developed by A-Square's Colonel Arthur B. Alphin in 1990, bears his name. His legacy is saluted by The Dallas Safari Club's annual Peter Hathaway Capstick Hunting Heritage Award for the promotion of responsible hunting and wildlife conservation.
There are those who have attempted to discredit his stories and achievements. True or not, he was one hell of a writer and story teller. The fact the Dallas Safari Club presents an annual award in his name speaks volumes to those who are out to prove him a farce. What these doubters have to gain from a dead man is beyond me.
That reminds me of one chap, a Soviet hunter and aspiring writer. In the bad old days of the Iron Curtain hunting enthusiasts in USSR couldn't get much information about how things were hunted in the other parts of the world - but this chap was a sort of a diplomat, if I'm not mistaken, somewhere in South America. So he bought hunting books in English and Spanish, made some rather liberal translations of the stories he liked, replacing the first person with the third when appropriate, signed them with his own name, and sold them, as his own, to Soviet outdoor publications - both of them. Not that there was much market to feed on, the monthly was allowed only one piece about foreign affairs per issue, the yearly - two or three, and half of those had to be about Socialist countries - but the chap all but monopolized it by late '80s. And, why I remembered him, quite a few of "his" stories were borrowed from Capsitck
So, like I told my superviser when I first saw a few passages from my PhD thesis reproduced without permission and reference, "if people want to steal it, it's gotta be good".
And, erm, sorry I can't answer the question of the original post, which was, basically, "What did Capstck's signature on his books usually look like?"
I've been rereading RETURN TO THE LONG GRASS. I find it interesting that after meeting Wally Johnson he was compared by him in so many ways to Johnson's life long buddy Ruark. PHC was quick to point out any comparison ended at the prose department. I do enjoy his writing but Ruark started it all for me....Along with Wally Taber who I believe was one of the first to bring African hunting to TV. I have a signed copy of one his paper back picture books which has some disturbing photos of blokes that didn't end up too well after confronting some of the local toothy residents.
PH's in Zimbabwe claimed PHC wrote up others' hunts as his own, but were quick to say he was the best thing that could have happenned to a flagging safari industry.
I had the chance to buy the leather set when it came out for a bit over 300 dollars...told my wife I should have!! I still love the writing, and no doubt others felt compelled to ramp their prose up a notch after his success.
Interesting in the Wiki biography that Capstick started writing about his adventures in the late 1960's . . . but made his first trip to Africa in 1968. No disagreement that he did a lot to promote hunting in Africa, or a resurgence of interest in "classic" books by people like Bror Blixen, Karamojo Bell, etc.
He was a very good writer. I read the entire set of his books years ago. My only issue with him was that he would make the presence of a spider sound like a full blown attack by an enraged bull elephant. Mambas chasing kids down and biting them, using a suit of homemade armor made from linoleum floor tiles to flush leopards out of the thick stuff, etc. I'll always wonder if he didn't "embellish" a lot of his exploits a great deal.
SRH
PHC was fun to read. He brought an entire generation stories about hunting in Africa. If those stories were all ab out him or about others who cares. Good copy is still good copy and he did not claim to have saved lives or invented an new cure for some dreaded disease. We have a Vice president who plagiarized others works and a President who did not write his own autobiography and has been to all 57 states. I think the bar has been lowered all around these days.
All history is revisionist, written by the winners or survivors. I enjoy his stories thoroughly regardless. That is all that matters to me. As for the rest, whatever.....
Interesting in the Wiki biography that Capstick started writing about his adventures in the late 1960's . . . but made his first trip to Africa in 1968. No disagreement that he did a lot to promote hunting in Africa, or a resurgence of interest in "classic" books by people like Bror Blixen, Karamojo Bell, etc.
Hey, there's an L. Brown in Wisconsin that writes a lot like you do!
I read a great Capstick story about testing an air rifle--some varmint, maybe a rat, that he'd baited with a chunk of hamburger, made it sound like he was sitting for a leopard. Great books, no matter how far up they peg (or don't) the truth meter.
Good writing is . . . well, good writing. But if I want to read about Jim Corbett's exploits, I'd much rather read Corbett on Corbett rather than Capstick (or anyone else) on Corbett, even if Capstick was a better writer. George Bird Evans, in one of his anthologies of stories by other writers, used the categories "writers who hunted" and "hunters who wrote". Corbett was a hunter who wrote, Capstick a writer who hunted. Not that there's anything wrong with the latter category, which would also include Hemingway--among others.
Kirk, I could certainly sell more articles if I wrote about deer hunting. But since I don't hunt deer, I don't write deer hunting articles.
It's all story telling. Canada's Farley Mowat never let the facts get in the way of a good story. History of any kind should be different, particularly military, but hunting and fishing always provided a wide berth for lying and embellishment---if it makes for a better story and doesn't hurt anyone. Good writing, of course, is the premium, like the good shot, the good hunt even if nothing is in the bag.
Not being a fan of creative nonfiction, I have to disagree with you, King, about not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. There is certainly room for fiction in the sporting world. Think Corey Ford's "The Road to Tinkhamtown", or for humor, his "Lower Forty" stories. But if I'm writing about something I did, or something some famous hunter did, I'm sticking to the facts. Otherwise, we start sliding famous hunters into the Paul Bunyan category--or maybe Davey Crockett/Daniel Boone, where it gets too hard to separate facts from legend. Let their deeds--which are likely impressive enough--stand on their own merits. Otherwise, someone who knows the facts is likely to pop up and say "I was there, and that's all a crock." We've seen that, to a certain extent, with Capstick in the above posts. If he was embellishing his own life, while that does not diminish him as a writer in my eyes, it does diminish him as a person.
Mr. Brown:
Well stated. As I said about 50 posts ago, one of the world's greatest REAL hunters, Jack O'Connor, considered PHC pretty much an impostor... "who fancies himself an Englishman."
Regardless of his story telling skills, PHC failed on one important virtue: disclosing that many of his adventures were actually those of others.
I believe you call that a "poseur."
So I guess after all's said n done "85...Sticks" doesn't cut it as an autograph, eh?
.I'll have to carefully pencil in Chap,n rub off the last s (for savings:)
I kinda knew there'd be some comments about his,,,er,authenticity.
But I,ve read most of his books , like many of you,& they are a
decent read.
cheers lads
franc
I agree with the point you make, Larry: writers should strive from the evidence to get it right. Where facts are in dispute you say so. No one wants to err. You may offer an opinion weighted from decades of experience. Readers expect it from those of demonstrated competence over the years.
The integrity of your contributions is familiar from my 10 years on the board. You report from producible evidence, your experience, more a journalistic narrative than the story-telling of Corbett, Capstick and Bell. Their genre is first-person nonfiction without a way to confirm veracity.
Your reporting differs from storytelling. A cottage on our property is the birthplace of the legendary Jim Bowie, according to the local historical society. It is not although strong circumstantial evidence suggests Scottish cousins, one who remained in the US and the other loyal to the Crown.
Martha Gellhorn's reporting is more interesting to me than Hemingway's storytelling (and he of the famous turtleneck portrait hanging from the wall eight feet behind me, Karsh's print No. 2). When they covered the same stories there was truth in Gellhorn.
I think readers cut a lot of slack for our hunting storytellers. That's what I was referring to, the storytelling. Their job is to entertain with stories of their and others' experiences. Do we care if it took two or three shots to bring the monster down, or that an arm was torn off a porter instead of his head?
For Hemingway fans, there's a terrific book by the Canadian Christopher Ondaatje, "Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari" (2004). Ondaatje is brother of Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient.
Do we care if it took two or three shots to bring the monster down, or that an arm was torn off a porter instead of his head?
The porter probably cares.
Although I enjoy Hemingway as a writer, the real adventurer in the family was his son Jack. Behind the lines in occupied France in WWII with the OSS. Later, one of the first Green Berets (before Kennedy gave them their unique headgear). And he wrote a pretty good memoir. The line I remember is when he stated that he was fated to be the son of a famous father, and a father of famous daughters. He wrote some hunting and fishing articles for Field & Stream.
Just finished re-reading "Kill Or Be Killed" by W. Robert Foran. It is part of the "Capstick Library Series", which I am fortunate enough to have collected all 14 of the books in this series. As I stated earlier, I am a huge fan of Capstick's writings. I pieced together all of his books and the Library Series books while deployed to Iraq in 2005. I bought them all through Amazon in varying conditions from new to very good. These books were all a joy to read and helped pass the little bit of free time that was available. I have greatly enjoyed the books by his favorite authors that his publishing company released in the library series. This has led to further purchases of books written about the great and brave men who hunted and explored the dark continent in the late 1800's and early 1900's. There are some fabulous history lessons contained within those pages.
My 9yo son has now started to read these books and he finds them just as fascinating. They are full of history lessons that he would never receive in his regular studies in school.
I have yet to make it to Africa to hunt, but it is definitely on my bucket list. I plan to take my son on a hunt for his high school graduation present. PHC is the driving force behind this desire to go.
All said, they are great books about a sport and lifestyle many of us dream of living some day.
As an aside, I was treated to a wonderful birthday gift a few years ago from my grandmother. She sent me a 1st Edition 1910, leather bound copy of Roosevelt's "African Game Trails" that is in excellent condition. She picked it up at her church yard sale for 50 cents.
Your son is getting an education. At the same age, in a fishing village with my father overseas flying a bomber, I read every book in his library whether I understood them or not. I think of it now as a special kind of scholarship.
Reminds me of the film Derrida in which the great one was asked if he had read every book in his voluminous library. "Oh, no. Only four of them," he replied. "But those four very, very carefully." Apparently slow reading is a true mark of knowledge.
The results of your son's reading will be very satisfactory.
King,
His favorite book thus far is "The Old Man and The Boy" by Ruark. I used to make him read at least 30 minutes every evening before bedtime. He soon began to enjoy reading as much as I do and I often find him reading in the evenings without any prodding. During his Christmas Break from school this year he decided to read John Browning's biography. I received a call from his teacher when she looked at his reading log and saw the title "John M. Browning: American Gunmaker".
I received a call from his teacher when she looked at his reading log and saw the title "John M. Browning: American Gunmaker".
Conformation that you are raising him right!
We read mostly for pleasure. Capstick, Ruark, Corbett, J. A. Hunter, (who it seems, had more close calls than Capstick) the irascible O'Connor,and even "the always larger than life" Elmer Keith have provided me with a great deal of pleasure over the years. As a former English teacher, my choice as the top wordsmith of all the outdoor/gun writers is Jack O'Connor, and the writer with the most ability to convey the true meaning of hunting is Thomas McIntyre. Get a copy of his "Seasons and Days"...excellent.
"A good story is not necessarily a sequence of fact."
Can't remember the source of this.
"A good story is not necessarily a sequence of fact."
Can't remember the source of this.
And every good lie has an element of truth!
You may have heard about this but there is a great quote, Capstick was at the SCI or one of the big shows in Vegas and having a beer with Brian Marsh (v.famous PH whom I believe Capstick apprenticed under). Peter said "I must write your biography one day Brian"...."You already have" said Brian ! Still Capstick made me believe I could still go to Africa and hunt and for that I´ll be eternally grateful, and he could write, best, Mike
I think you just have to accept people like Hemingway and Capstick for what the are. Great writers who also had a love of hunting and the outdoors.
Unfortunately we lost both too soon. Hemingway due to suicide by shotgun and Capstick due to suicide by bottle.
Jim
And we should not judge harshly these frailties, Jim. I admire Hemingway for his sentences, not his character. If Hemingway were my friend he would expect harsh truths from me because there can be no true friendship without it. Who's to say that for all the good of these writers' lives the bullet and bottle weren't noble actions?
King. Another writer we lost too soon:
"And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back"
Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas
Hunter Thompson
One important difference between Hemingway and Capstick: Hemingway's genre was fiction. Although he was a larger than life human being, his enduring fame rests on what he was: a writer of fiction. Capstick claimed to be relating his own adventures, which means his enduring fame rests on what he was not. His books would not have sold had he not claimed to have been something he wasn't. Good writer or bad writer, wishing he was Selous or Bell or Corbett does not make it so.
That's an interesting slant, Larry, something to think of for our enjoyment of the craft.
He was a great writer and I enjoy his work.
For what it is worth, I hunted out of one of his old camps on the Luangwa River in Zambia. The locals there knew him and said he was a bartender, not a professional hunter. They said he picked up the materials for his stories while tending bar. Whatever the source, he was did some good stories.
Speaking of fabrecation, the above quote is a complete fabrication! P. Capstick never had a camp in Zambia on the Luangwa River. His camps were on the Mupamadzi river, where his home was also while he was hunting in Zambia.
He was a bartender when he first arrived in Africa, but that was in Maun Botswana where he made all his contacts to get into the wildlife department as a cropping officer, and later went to work for Kurr and Downey as an appie PH. Was licensed as PH appie in Zambia in 1967, and as a PH in 1968 on his Zambia work permit. You must remember there was a bush war raging in that part of the world in the early to mid 1960s, so hunting in those places was a little dangerous, and not from lions and buffalo only. Then worked with Zambia as a cropping officer as well. So the "LOCALS" who knew him as a bar tender must have all moved 2000 miles away to the Luangwa Valley, by the time "YOU" arrived there!
Idahobob what was the concession you hunted in Zambia again?..........................................
--
As I posted earlier in this thread, the Dallas Safari Club presents an award each year in his honor. The DSC is a first rate organization and would not wish to tarnish their image if Capstick was a farce as some here have suggested.
http://www.biggame.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=38The Peter Hathaway Capstick Hunting Heritage Award (PHCHHA) was announced in Dallas, Texas, at the Dallas Safari Club Annual Convention, January 9th, 2004.
Named after the well-known American author, whose defense of the international big-game hunting community and the role of hunting in the conservation of wildlife and its habitat made him a household name, the announcement was made to an enthusiastic audience by Capstick’s widow, DSC friend and Life Member, Fiona Claire Capstick.
Award criteria include active involvement in: education, hunting, conservation organizations, humanitarian causes, research, permanent endowments and charitable giving. The intent of the PHCHHA is summed up in the Award Committee's words:
“The objective of this award is to bring honor and recognition to an individual, organization or group whose achievements reveal a sustained and significant contribution to the conservation of wildlife and its habitat. Additionally, the winner will have shown long-term commitment to our hunting heritage by pursuing that goal for the benefit of future generations.”
This Award is Dallas Safari Club’s most prestigious conservation and service award.
Capstick wasn't a farce. The award honored him for his contributions to conservation of wildlife and habitat. Arguably, DSC was on safe grounds there. Arguably because of growing resentment of trophy hunting generally. Members' comments were directed more at his place as a hunter and writer. So much so that Capstick is next candidate for my iBooks library!
I would love to have his books in an iBooks format if only for an easier way to take them with me where ever I go. Very few of the books in my collection are available in iBooks or in a Kindle format. There is also something to be said for having the hard copy in hand. My den smells of old books, Hoppes and bird dog!
I have been building a fairly decent library on African Hunting and Exploration over the last five for six years. I have over 40 books from various authors. I really enjoy the books that were written around 1890-1910 era. My goal now is to slowly replace all the ones I have with 1st Edition copies. This has proven a costly and time consuming project.
I recently switched to an iPhone and downloaded a dozen or more iBooks on African Safari and African Hunting. I also find that app handy for all my PDF files and calalogues.
I recommend Christopher Ondaatje's Hemingway in Africa, The Last Safari. He's a Canadian, brother to Michael who wrote The English Patient.
First editions? Dear god. I priced Hemingway's on my last trip to London in that sacred store just west of Piccadilly Square.
So far I have been able to aquire the following 1st editions:
African Game Trails by Teddy Roosevelt
Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Teddy Roosevelt
Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter by Teddy Roosevelt
A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa by F.C. Selous
Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa by F.C. Selous
Pondoro by John Taylor
Nearest the Pole by Adm. Robert Peary
Something of Value by Robert Ruark
There are many, many more on my list. I also have a book titled Hunting with Hemingway. It was written by his daughter after his death. The stories in it are from audio recordings taken during conversations between Hemingway and his friends at Hemingway's house. I found it a very entertaining book to read. It puts the reader in the room with Hemingway and his friends as they recount their various exploits from around the world.
Wonder if those recordings are available? It would be great to listen to him having a bull session discussing hunting amongst friends and one would assume a few libations.
One hears all kinds of uncharitable stuff said and written about Capstick. Some or all of it may be true but the poor chap is no longer here to defend himself so until someone does for Capstick what Capstick did for John Taylor in 'A Man Called Lion', my view is let him lie and let his books do the talking.
Capstick has left a legacy of exciting, pro-hunting, well written books based in a time much overlooked and disparaged by those nostalgic for the Edwardian era.
I read a very good biography of Henry Morton Stanley recently. Seems much of what was said and thought about him during his life was untrue, that much thought about him since his death was untrue but that he was guilty of making up certain stories about himself. None of that detracts from the frankly unbelievable achievements Stanley pulled off. He should have died a hundred times and should never have had the opportunity to do what he did.
Likewise, Capstick may have embellished, copied, borrowed, stories, drank too much, whatever. His body of work, in my opinion means he deserves our forgiveness for his human frailties and our admiration for what he produced.
+1 Smallbore, probably as responsible for the re-emergence of hunting in Africa as any man alive and I for sure would love to have spent a night out with him, best, Mike
Capstick may have embellished, copied, borrowed, stories, drank too much, whatever. His body of work, in my opinion means he deserves our forgiveness for his human frailties and our admiration for what he produced.
+1!
If you've sat around a camp fire listing to shooting stories, you've probably heard tall tales equal to anything Capstick embellished. What makes his stories so great, is as much the way he tells them. A scoundrel he may have been, but a hell of a writer he is.
Unlike Stanley, Capstick died relatively recently. That means there are a lot of living "witnesses" to what he did or did not do. Writers are, to a certain extent, public personalities. (That would even include you and me, Small Bore--although with significantly smaller audiences than people like Hemingway or Captstick.) We therefore open ourselves to charges of "bull hockey!" if, for example, you describe a driven shoot during which you had 4 birds dead in the air at once when your loader saw no such thing, or I talk about how my bird dog never lost a crippled pheasant when various hunting companions remember otherwise.
On this side of the pond, among those of my generation who served in the military, some claim to be Vietnam vets when they are not. Living off "stolen valor"--now that Vietnam service is seen as something honorable rather than a subject best left undiscussed. When I was attending a course at the US Air Force Special Operations School, one of the guest lecturers was Dr. Larry Cable. Cable was a university political science professor with a record that included a couple of tours in Vietnam as a Marine, and was a recognized expert on unconventional warfare. And I must say he was an impressive lecturer. Unfortunately, at least some of his academic background and most or all of his military service--particularly having served in Vietnam--turned out to be phony. Worse than fooling the Air Force, he'd even succeeded in fooling the Marines, and had also lectured at Quantico! I can't recall that any of us would have quarreled much with what he had to say about guerrilla wars etc, but the fact that he had not done most of what he claimed made him a fraud.
Hemingway wrote great fiction about hunting in Africa. I'd have no quarrel with Capstick and his legacy if he'd done the same, attributing the adventures he describes to someone named Alan Quatermain or Francis Macomber. No question he spent time in Africa, and he could have used that experience to make his stories real without making himself the center of them and presenting them as nonfiction.
L.Brown, Hemingways worst book, Green Hills (and he is my favourite author) is about Africa (but it is not fictional), Capstick undoubtedly borrowed stories from others, and if you watch any of his videos he admits the same !! How this has ANYTHING to do with pretending to have done military service somewhere baffles me ??!! best, Mike
Not sure where this interesting thread is going, Mike. Capstick was an entertaining writer. He placed me right in the picture. The only question I have is did he do what he said he did? Is it fiction or non-fiction?
I have a video or two (VHS format) in which Capstick shot a cape buffalo and an elephant. Another hunter involved in the video production company shot a lion. They seemed to know what they were doing.
The buffalo was taken with a .375H&H bolt action rifle. The skinner brought out the heart (somewhat like a football), which had a hole through it. IIRC, the buffalo was quartering facing toward the shooter, somewhat to the shooters left. If a line were drawn up the left foreleg, the shot hit (dust) a few inches up into the body along that line. It took off running, so I guess the shoulder was not hit or broken.
The elephant was taken with a double rifle. He probably mentioned the caliber, but I do not remember. It was something pretty large - the muzzle flashes looked like beach balls.
The other shooter took the lion with a bolt action.
It seems that he did some of what he wrote about.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_13?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=peter+capstick&sprefix=peter+capstic%2Cmovies-tv%2C539 for several videos.
King Brown, he was a small time PH who apprenticed under one very big PH, Brian Marsh. A lot of his stuff was based on the life of Brian Marsh. However he had been a PH in his own right. What he could do was tell a story. I reckon 95% of what is in the books happened but to other people. The difference is that 80% of hunting books are badly written, his aren´t and for that reason I don´t mind if it happended to him or anyone else. It is entertaining and made many of my generation want to go there. I do not understand why people love to bad mouth him ? Bringing it up as if he claimed to have been a war veteran and wasn´t is completely cloud cockoo land ! best
I am going back to Africa this August on safari for the 7th time. I have PHC, TR, Ruark and Hemingway in that order to either curse or thank for all the money and time I have spent and will spend on these trips. There is nothing in the outdoors world to compare being in dangerous game county. Africa is a hard world of poverty, violence and death for all animals from humans on down.It always has been. But, when a buffalo snorts and alerts the herd and they shuffle off in cloud of red dust just as you raise your rifle or while sitting by the evening fire, you hear the roar of the lion not too far off in the darkness you stop as you raise a cold sweating gin to your lips and you think- this is why I am here. Only the hunter not the hunted can conjure up these abstract notions of time and place. These writers are the ones who spun that gossamer veneer of romance on Africa. Capstick could spin it better than most...
L.Brown, Hemingways worst book, Green Hills (and he is my favourite author) is about Africa (but it is not fictional), Capstick undoubtedly borrowed stories from others, and if you watch any of his videos he admits the same !! How this has ANYTHING to do with pretending to have done military service somewhere baffles me ??!! best, Mike
Mike, pretending is . . . well, pretending. I agree that claiming military service (or war service you didn't perform) is a different order of magnitude, but it's the same principle. Some guy writes a book telling how he struck out Mickey Mantle several times back when the Mick was in the Minors, I want it to be the guy who did it--regardless of how good a wordsmith he is or isn't--not some guy who saw it happen and is claiming he's the one who did it. If I want good fiction writing, I have no trouble finding it. I don't much care for "creative" nonfiction. I'll take a lower standard of wordsmithing along with a higher standard of truth-telling.
And just like Capstick was a fine writer, Dr. Larry Cable was one heck of a lecturer on unconventional warfare. He fooled a lot of people in the military, including a lot of Vietnam vets, for quite some time. There's certainly a higher "fraud" standard there because of the "stolen valor" thing, but same principle. What it comes down to are a couple guys who were very entertaining, but didn't do what they claimed to have done. Seems I recall a newspaper reporter or two having maybe a Pulitzer yanked for stories they made up. Good writing, but if the award is for reporting and not fiction writing, then you don't get the award unless the story is true.
Writers are a sketchy group of Folks.