Bear with Me: A Cultural History of Famous Bears in America

In this witty and thought-provoking examination of America’s relationship with bears, historian Horowitz (American Dreams, American Nightmares) zeroes in on the ways that humans have feared, loved, and exploited these charismatic creatures. He begins with famed frontiersmen Grizzly Adams, who teamed up with P.T. Barnum to capture and train performing bears, and Hugh Glass, whose saga, which involved being left for dead after a bear attack, inspired the 2015 film The Revenant. Horowitz then traces how bears’ position as the ultimate terror in the American wilderness gave way to a cuddly, child-friendly demeanor in the era of conservation—the “Teddy Bear,” modeled on champion of conservationism Teddy Roosevelt, being not only a hinge point, according to Horowitz, but a seminal moment in U.S. culture. He pegs its creation as one of the first modern pop culture phenomena, as well as the first instance of Americans anthropomorphizing nature. Ever since, bears have held a special “celebrity” status—not just in the U.S., but internationally, with Winnie the Pooh and Paddington emerging in Teddy’s wake. Bears began to frequently symbolize positive human-nature relationships, the inverse of the horror they once engendered (Horowitz traces how an ugly old crone mauled to death by bears evolved through the years into pretty young Goldilocks, who no longer gets eaten for her trespasses). Wide-ranging and entertaining, this is a clever work of cultural history. (Aug.)