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''Bring ‘Em Back Alive'' is a 1930 book by Frank Buck. His first book, it was a best seller that catapulted him to world fame and was translated into many languages. Buck tells of his adventures capturing exotic animals.
Writing with Edward Anthony, Buck relates some of his most frightening experiences, among them, his battle with an escaped king cobra. This venomous snake is the only jungle animal, Buck says, that has no fear of either man or beast. "Nowhere in the world is there an animal or reptile that can quite match its unfailing determination to wipe out anything that crosses its path. This lust to kill invests the king cobra with a quality of fiendishness that puts it in a class by itself, almost making it a jungle synonym for death." When the escaped king cobra confronted him, Buck wrote, for an instant, mind and body were numb. He stripped off the white duck jacket he wore over his bare skin and as the snake struck he lunged forward, threw himself with the coat in front of him upon it and hit the ground with a bang, with the cobra, trapped in the jacket under him.
Buck describes many other fearsome encounters. A
''Bring Em Back Alive'' on Google Books
1930 books American memoirs Debut books Hunting literature
''Bring ‘Em Back Alive'' is a 1930 book by Frank Buck. His first book, it was a best seller that catapulted him to world fame and was translated into many languages. Buck tells of his adventures capturing exotic animals.
Writing with Edward Anthony, Buck relates some of his most frightening experiences, among them, his battle with an escaped king cobra. This venomous snake is the only jungle animal, Buck says, that has no fear of either man or beast. "Nowhere in the world is there an animal or reptile that can quite match its unfailing determination to wipe out anything that crosses its path. This lust to kill invests the king cobra with a quality of fiendishness that puts it in a class by itself, almost making it a jungle synonym for death." When the escaped king cobra confronted him, Buck wrote, for an instant, mind and body were numb. He stripped off the white duck jacket he wore over his bare skin and as the snake struck he lunged forward, threw himself with the coat in front of him upon it and hit the ground with a bang, with the cobra, trapped in the jacket under him.
Buck describes many other fearsome encounters. A tapir
Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...
he was trying to medicate made a sudden terrific charge, hitting him in the stomach with its head and knocking him down. Then the enraged beast jumped on him, pounded him with its hind legs, and dragged him around its pen. The tapir was trying to rip off Buck’s face with its huge jaws and powerful teeth when Buck's native helpers came running to his rescue. One of them shoved a two-by-four plank down the animal's throat, allowing Buck to escape.
“The book can be recommended to anybody who likes being made to sit on the edge of his chair and gasp for breath as his eyes eat up the print to see what happens next,” wrote the ''New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
''.
War correspondent Floyd Gibbons
Floyd Phillips Gibbons (July 16, 1887 – September 23, 1939) was the war correspondent for the ''Chicago Tribune'' during World War I. One of radio's first news reporters and commentators, he was famous for a fast-talking delivery style. Floyd ...
suggested to Buck that he write a book about his experiences. Mutual friends introduced Buck to George T. Bye, a New York literary agent, who represented Buck in the publication of ''Bring 'Em Back Alive'' and Buck's subsequent books.
In 2000, Steven Lehrer published a new collection of these stories in '' Bring 'Em Back Alive: The Best of Frank Buck''.
See also
* ''Bring 'Em Back Alive'' - 1932 film adaptation * ''Bring 'Em Back Alive'' - 1982-3 television series * '' Bring 'Em Back Alive: The Best of Frank Buck'' - 2000 compilationReferences
{{reflistExternal links
''Bring Em Back Alive'' on Google Books
1930 books American memoirs Debut books Hunting literature