Jack O'Connor

Rating:
Summary: Good book on a great writer
Review: I would have given this five stars except for its "thrown together" feel. It started as a full-scale biography but the source materials simply were not available. The book that was written consists of some short character sketches and a recapitulation of JO'C's hunting trips and writing career.

The author is a hunter so he does justice to his subject.

In my view, this book has two serious omissions. First, the author repeatedly asserts that O'Connor was the dean of gunwriters in his time. This is true (IMHO) but the book does a poor job showing why this is true and what made JO'C's writing special.

Second, this work does not discuss the feud between Elmer Keith and O'Connor. Ostensibly the point of contention was the effectiveness of small, fast bullets like the 270 Win. But the Keith side (since Elmer's acolytes got in on the fun) made it personal. JO'C, in contrast, showed a sense of humor and charity that reflects favorably on his character.

Rating:
Summary: A superb record of O'Connor's achievements as a hunter
Review: Jack O'Connor: The Legendary Life Of America's Greatest Gunwriter is the definitive biography of one of twentieth century North America's premier sportsmen, big-game hunters, and gun experts. Biographer Robert Anderson drew upon information provided from interviews with O'Connor's family and friends, as well as O'Connor's own papers, photos, and correspondences. The O'Connor papers from Washington State University were to prove invaluable in presenting a complete portrait of a man who had a great zest for love, despite a concurrent ability to be egotistically and occasionally mean spirited. A superb record of O'Connor's achievements as a hunter, the reader will learn about the early years of hardship in Arizona, the personal family tragedy of losing a son, the post-World War II "glory years" when O'Connor hunted tiger in India, sheep in Iran, buffalo in Tanganyika, and encounters with the ruling class of foreign land, and the corporate moguls of hunting and firearms industries. All of which gave O'Connor a special prestige to the point where his writings could spell success or failure for products and armaments marketed for the sportsman hunter. If you've ever read one of his columns or experienced the thrill of a big game hunt, you will want to read Jack O'Connor!