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The new biography of George Bird Grinnell entitled, Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West by John Taliaferro is the first to provide a full profile of this outdoorsmen and his drive to preserve the American west. While other biographies focus on singular aspects of GBG life and advocacy, this one looks at him from many angles. Previous biographies by Carolyn Merchant and Michael Punke are both excellent works about GBG, but they are focused on specific slices of his life, while important, provides limited evidence of his overall influence on many issues.

Grinnell’s energy as the owner/editor of Forest and Stream periodical provided him with an outlet to influence the views of American sportsmen and the political establishment. The book clearly articulates the importance of this publication as a tool to advocate for the protection of birds, buffalo, elk and other species that have been threatened by over-zealous hunting, for the creation of National Parks, Monuments, and Forests, and for the protection of the natural resources within these boundaries.

With his explorations in the west, GBG discovered a passion to learn more about the Native American peoples who lived, fought, and struggled to survive in the rapidly changing influence of American expansion and the consistent efforts to remove them from their homelands. While GBG was a man of his time in the way he viewed Native American’s with a paternalist attitude, few American’s of his day or class were interested in understanding the culture, traditions, and way of life of the various tribes. His writings on Native Americans provided and avenue to preserve some of their history but also influenced to views of many American’s in the early 20th century. One very important aspect that is highlighted in this book is Grinnell’s dogged efforts to document the firsthand accounts of the Battle of Little Big Horn from Native American’s. GBG’s empathy and ability to step into the shoes of Native Americans and attempts to share their views through his writings led to his recognition as an advocate who could influence national policy and act as a mediator when needed. While he attempted to work with both Republican and Democratic administrations concerning their policies, his allegiance was always with the Native American’s and not with a particular party view.

Perhaps the best understanding of why few know about Grinnell today is stated by Talliferro here:

“What has marginalized Grinnell in the annals of anthropology is his relegation of Native Americans to lower rungs on the ladder of civilization. To describe Indians as “children” is today paternalistic and outright racists. Yet Grinnell’s attitude towards Indians, as a race, as tribes, as individuals, was forever evolving. The tendency is to lump men of his generation and class in one foul ball of bigotry. The temptation is to smear Grinnell with the same brush that damns a Madison Grant, who was a devout conservationists but also a white supremacists. But unlike Grant, Grinnell advanced from the romantic, to the Darwinian, to the progressive—that is to say, to the practical.” (p.518)

As a genealogist and family historian, this book provides some great insight into the immediate family of GBG. While we all understand that family and sibling dynamics playout in interesting and strange ways at times. This book provides us with a peak into the complicated relationships between GBG and his siblings. It even reveals some long-time secrets that are startling (for late 19th century America anyway) and provides some speculation about the private life to the main subject.

With this book, George Bird Grinnell finally has a place on the library shelf next to his fellow advocates for environmental/conservation leadership with John Muir and Aldo Leopold. ( )