The Fragrance of Grass
“Guy de la Valdene’s memoir,The Fragrance of Grass,soars like a condor high above the arid landscape of our era’s largely flimsy, narrow and shallow sporting books. It is an extraordinary stew of poignant reflections, deeply felt sentiment and sensitive introspection having equal measures of pride and regret. Time and again there is demonstrated a fearless willingness to stare deeply into the human conscience while the whole is sewn together with absolutely impeccable language. In my view, this may well be the defining masterpiece of this genre in our time.”                                                           -Russell Chatham The love of hunting and the love of animals  in cultivated people gives rise to a sometimes rueful, sometimes triumphant intensity of spirit which has rarely been so well expressed as in Guy de la Valdene's book.  Few have had as wide an opportunity--so unpretentiously expressed--to find out what drives, rewards and worries us about hunting.                                                          -Thomas McGuane