Confessions of an Eco-Redneck

Book excerpt: Confessions of an Eco-Redneck collects the best of outdoor writer Steve Chapple's short pieces. This is outdoor adventure writing at its best, in a league with Tim Cahill, Randy White, or PJ O'Rourke, and the essays range from fishing: for tigerfish on the Zambezi, tarpon in the Keys, trout on the Yellowstone; to hunting: the "Bambi Syndrome" (Hollywood's bias against the sport), "Dinner Bell Grizzlies," and stalking televisions in Montana; to the larger questions: "Now or Never for American Rivers," and the great unasked question about the Lewis & Clark expedition: "How were the bugs??" Underneath Steve Chapple's laugh-out loud wit there's a serious plea to environmentalists to remember that sportsmen (the eco-rednecks of the title) are among the most passionate and effective advocates for conservation of the environment that we've got.