Anatomy of a Beast - by Michael McLeod (Paperback)

About the Book

"Michael McLeod doesn't simply debunk hoaxes; he critically, but sympathetically, explores the motivations that have driven the 'Bigfoot community' to build an enormous and intricate, if ramshackle, edifice of lore. McLeod has written an anatomy of mythology with implications that go beyond the Bigfoot phenomenon. The Bigfoot mythologists' strange, colorful, and sometimes comical, personalities play a big part of this compulsively readable story."--David Rains Wallace, author of "The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution"
"In the same way that dinosaurs and other exotic beasts from Earth's distant and hazy past inspire and fascinate many of us, Bigfoot has captured the imagination of generations of Americans. Here, Michael McLeod approaches the 'Bigfoot phenomenon' in the same way that a detective would follow leads at a crime scene. The result is a delicious case study of human obsession and the fuzzy border between science and pseudoscience."--Chris Beard, author of "The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans"

Book Synopsis

Part history, part road trip, and part biography, this is the true story of a remarkable group of men whose obsession with Bigfoot turned the giant hominid into an American icon. Award-winning journalist Michael McLeod tells of Bigfoot's rise to tabloid stardom in a fast-paced account that begins with his own journey to investigate a famous 1967 film clip of a Bigfoot in a California forest. McLeod proceeds to uncover a trail of clues reaching from the late nineteenth century, when a few ambitious, imaginative naturalists and explorers synthesized historical and indigenous folklore with Darwinian ideas and speculated that a proto-hominid "missing link" might still be alive in remote areas. That speculation would eventually inspire a colorful cast of loggers, hunters, con artists, and businessmen in the twentieth century to create the modern myth of Bigfoot, all of them angling for a piece of a monster that the media and the public still can't get enough of. Told through vividly narrated interviews and anecdotes, Anatomy of a Beast offers a unique perspective on the deep roots of counterfactual thinking--and how obsession and myth are created out of it.

From the Back Cover

"Michael McLeod doesn't simply debunk hoaxes; he critically, but sympathetically, explores the motivations that have driven the 'Bigfoot community' to build an enormous and intricate, if ramshackle, edifice of lore. McLeod has written an anatomy of mythology with implications that go beyond the Bigfoot phenomenon. The Bigfoot mythologists' strange, colorful, and sometimes comical, personalities play a big part of this compulsively readable story."--David Rains Wallace, author of The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution

"In the same way that dinosaurs and other exotic beasts from Earth's distant and hazy past inspire and fascinate many of us, Bigfoot has captured the imagination of generations of Americans. Here, Michael McLeod approaches the 'Bigfoot phenomenon' in the same way that a detective would follow leads at a crime scene. The result is a delicious case study of human obsession and the fuzzy border between science and pseudoscience."--Chris Beard, author of The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans

Review Quotes

"McLeod approaches Bigfoot culture the way Susan Orlean approached orchids . . . artfully traces our culture's obsession to walking man-beasts."--Justin Berton "Kansas City Star" (7/18/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"McLeod writes evocatively of a rich, wondrous ecological area known as 'The Klamath Knot.'"--Nick Owchar "Los Angeles Times Book Review" (12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"A funny, well-written memoir about chasing down the believers."--Scott Bradfield "Bookforum" (7/31/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"An entertaining and thoroughly researched travelogue, as much about America's need for mystery as the elusive denizens of the Klamath forests."--Ben Waterhouse "Willamette Week" (7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"Compelling."--Jason Zasky "Failure" (6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"Insightful and amusing."--Robert Nott "Santa Fe New Mexican" (6/12/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"With prose that's both sensitive and probing, McLeod explores this very human aspect, the tendency to see pictures in the clouds, UFOs in the sky, and fragments of evolution in the woods."--Andi Diehn "Foreword" (7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Michael McLeod is a writer, producer, and director who has created documentaries for PBS, the PBS series Frontline, the Discovery Channel, and other national venues.