The 'Passion for Grouse,' and the triumph of the thick book - Book Review

By Dave Orrick

You can call it a "book."

Like you'd call a grouse a "bird."

But at 560 pages, 6 pounds and $100, "A Passion for Grouse: The Lore and Legend of America's Premier Game Bird," is something more.

Like the bird itself.

The volume, by Washington-based Wild River Press, is a compendium of, an ode to, and an offering before the likeness of the ruffed grouse, that dun-shaded bird of the woods that is a symbol of both the hunting proletariat and the Scotch-drinking class, and whose pursuit might often land a hunter from each caste side-by-side as equals.

Read the full Pioneer Press book review