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Brown Dog of the Yaak
Rick Bass’s dog, Colter, is the brown dog of the Yaak. Described by Bass as a creature almost mythic, the dog charges through the mountain valleys following the scent of game. In this book, Bass gives a history of his years with Colter—including vignettes about interactions with well-known writers Jim Harrison and Barry Lopez—as a way of understanding what is intuitive in himself and his quest to create art.
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Praise and Prizes
“Strong . . . Sharp . . . The brown dog of the Yaak becomes many things in this book. It’s Colter’s splendid inner fire. It’s companionship perfected by practice. More than anything else, the dog represents us: the human presence in a wild place.”
Salon
“Yaak and Rick Bass have now joined the company of Walden and Thoreau, Yosemite and Muir, Arches and Abbey, Great Salt Lake and Terry Tempest Williams. . . . He elaborates on wilderness as an anchor, as the root of art, on writing as sculpture, but also on the artist as a sculpture—as a creator sculpted by the even greater creative spirit of place.”
ISLE
“Both fresh and wise . . . Brown Dog of the Yaak is filled with nuggets of wisdom and provocative questions. Rick Bass challenges us to lead authentic, inspired lives, to engage in both activism and art. He urges us not to rein back.”
Rocky Mountain News
“Combines Rick Bass’s heartfelt meditation on the life and the loss of his hunting dog Colter with his equally passionate thoughts on the place of activism and art in his life . . . Brown Dog of the Yaak gives insight into the creative process—the very life—of one our finest writers as he comes to terms with why he writes and lives as he does.”
Bloomsbury Review
“Delicious . . . I could hear Rick Bass’s voice as I read his words. Maybe you will, too. He puts it all on the line, every time.”
Eugene Weekly
“These eloquent essays renew the spirit and reawaken the senses. . . . Anyone who has ever mourned the loss of a pet . . . will find solace in Rick Bass’s soaring tribute to man’s best friend.”
Publishers Weekly
“In this collection, Rick Bass combines several memorable, short nonfiction tales about living in the Yaak Valley wilderness in southern Montana with an illuminating exploration of literary and political activism.”
Eugene Register-Guard
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