Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer

Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer

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Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer

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The alligator gar belongs to a family of fish that has remained fundamentally unchanged since the Cretaceous, over 100 million years ago. Its intimidating size and plethora of teeth have made it demonized throughout its range in North America, resulting in needless killing. Massive oil spills in its breeding range have not helped its population either. Interspersing science, folklore, history, and action-packed fishing narratives, Spitzer's empathy for and fascination with this air-breathing, armored fish provides for an entertaining odyssey that examines management efforts to preserve and propagate the alligator gar in the United States. Spitzer also travels to Central America, Thailand, and Mexico to assess the global gar situation. He reflects on what is and isn't working in compromised environments, then makes a case for conservation based on personal experience and a love for wildness for its own sake. This colorful portrait of the alligator gar can serve as a metaphor and measurement for the future of our biodiversity during a time of planetary crisis.

Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208145 in Books
• Brand: Spitzer, Mark
• Published on: 2015-03-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.11" h x .76" w x 6.76" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer

Review “In Return of the Gar Mark Spitzer is fighting the good fight, teaching us about a fish that’s in trouble and explaining to us why we should care—one quirky story at a time.”—Zeb Hogan, host of National Geographic’s Monster Fish series “A timely work about an important subject.”—Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet’s River Monsters TV show "In the tradition of activists who speak up for those without a voice, Spitzer is on a crusade to save the gar. He’s also going to have some fun while doing so. . . . a pleasure to read."—Susan Cohen, co-editor Shorewords: A Collection of American Women’s Coastal Writings "Highly readable, entertaining and engaging. . . excellent attention to detail."—Solomon R. David, research associate, Shedd Aquarium  "Enhanced with numerous photographs, Return of the Gar by Mark Spitzer is exceptionally well written, organized and presented."--Midwest Book Review"This isn't a dry retelling of gar research--Spitzer adds dollops of humor and can tell a tale to make any truth-stretching angler proud. He explains why gar are important and what they are up against if they are to survive."--Arkansas Wildlife

About the Author MARK SPITZER has caught and studied gar all over the planet, leading to an appearance on Animal Planet’s River Monsters. He also consulted for National Geographic’s Monster Fish episode on the alligator gar. The author of 21 books, including fiction, poetry, translations, and nonfiction, Spitzer is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas and the editor of Toad Suck Review.

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Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. clean, clear prose spawned from muddy fishing holes! By theexceptionalist I read "Return of the Gar" voraciously on my flight home from AWP and finished it the same week. Abashedly I have to confess I have yet to read Spitzer’s first gar book, but "Return" gave me the impression I read the right one (for me) first bc the first seemed to deal more with facts of the fish which is uber-interesting, while “Return” was more about Spitzer's meditations on sustainability and contemporary strides at preservation. I enjoyed reading about his international travels to aquatic gar-dens (enjoy the puns and sci-fi allusions as well!). I found myself admiring Spitzer’s approach to this book and his relationship to this fish family, and the truth that by all means you can become an expert and make a difference at anything you care about so passionately. That's a profound point to this millennial pre-apocalyptic acceptance or indifference, especially in terms of natural resources, that I observe and admittedly feel, but the point is tracking progress, and hell even just the awareness and experience Spitzer conveys makes me want to get more involved with the portions of this planet I hold so dear...to reconsider writing as a powerful tool, and they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Spitzer is a realistic environmentalist and I concur with his statement that "These days, it's not natural to stay in one place" and that "Our nature is to go where petroleum takes us. And as we continue to evolve...we''ll become even more multi-abodal, humans and creatures and plant like alike." Many Americans are fortunate enough to have means to be nomadic, traversing of our globe, but I realize the hugeness of what Spitzer is saying here and in the other meditations he presents in clean, clear prose spawned from muddy fishing holes!

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Night of the Gar People, so to speak. It's culture and nature intermixed into a highly readable account. By lyndonbrecht This is an odd book. Spitzer is a liberal professional academic teaching writing at a university in conservative Arkansas, but has expertise in gar studies, for lack of a better title, and has also managed to be able to be something of a good ole boy fisherman. The book is about equal parts the story of the gar (several species), stories about gar people (that is, people liking the fish, not about weregars, which come to think of it might be fun to read), stories of activism in sake of the fish, and a good example of what Spitzer set out to do, literary journalism. The book is generally absorbing, sometimes funny and sometimes a little sad.Here's Spitzer describing his writing: "Because that's who I am. I'm an assister, whose assistance comes in many forms, the most important form being typing these words, right here, right now, to entertain and to educate for the purpose of propagating gator gar. And it works. My research got noticed by Animal Planet, NatGeo followed, the book came out and word got out that gar don't main and kill, that they're vital to ecosystem stability, and the big ones need out help."You'll find out a lot about gars. They are North America's second largest fish, some over 300 pounds, endangered in some areas, seemingly plentiful in others. They were for many many years seen as destructive, and killed out of malice as much as fishing. Species vary and their range varies, some of the range being due to fish fanciers releasing gar who got to be too big or too much trouble to keep in aquariums at home--that seems to be how the Florida gar got to have a breeding population in Canada. Among other things there is a tropical gar not particularly well know; there's an apparently prospering gar aquaculture in Tabasco, that might serve as a model for getting a community involved in keeping a species safe (although fished for and eater).The chapters can be read as a series of linked essays, and the order isn't particularly important. I found several chapters to be more interesting than others. Chapter 2 describes Spitzer being an advocate for gars, opposed to a development of infrastructure the local power base wanted. Chapter 9 is on a fishing park in Thailand, stocked with giant fish from around the world, but unlike game parks where trophy hunters kill the animals, the fishing park is catch and release. And Chapter 11 is a sort of conclusion, linking a ruptured marriage with a distended ecology but somehow still hopeful.

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Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer

Return of the Gar (Southwestern Nature Writing Series), by Mark Spitzer