Meat Eater

Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter

By: Steven Rinella

Narrated by: Steven Rinella

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of Netflix’s MeatEater comes “a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from” (Anthony Bourdain).

“Revelatory . . . With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson, and a cooking lesson. . . . Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.”—The New York Times Book Review

Meat Eater chronicles Steven Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of ten hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age ten and ending as a thirty-seven-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska.

A thrilling storyteller, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as consumers lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. The result is a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are—as humans and as Americans.

©2012 Steven Rinella (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“It’s evident from Chapter 1 that we are in the hands of a seriously experienced hunter-gatherer and writer. . . . Acutely conveyed are the ways society is elbowing aside an age-old practice, often bloody and brutal, and replacing it with practices numbingly antiseptic and increasingly unreal. . . . Rinella’s writing is unerringly smart, direct, and sharply detailed. . . . Each of his small-bore narratives, whether it unfolds on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [or in] Montana, Alaska, Arizona, or Mexico, bristles with the magic of a specific, authentic place.”—The Boston Globe

“As Steven Rinella is quick to point out, the hunting story is the oldest sort of story there is. Humans developed language, it is commonly held, to tell them. When told properly, as they are in Meat Eater, such stories are not simple gloats by the successful hunter around the table, proudly chewing on the biggest portion of meat and relishing the respect he has earned from his tribe by bringing back the protein. Rather, they are stories of man’s relationships with his fellow hunters, his family, the land and the animals. The stories in Meat Eater are full of empathy and intelligence.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Steven Rinella is one of the best nature writers of the last decade. . . . This book was a page-turner.”—Tim Ferris

loved it

this was a great book. I can't wait for his next one. keep up the great work.

Clay needs to read one!!!!

Loved it!!

This is my 3rd book of Steve's that I have finished so far,and it does not disappoint! Living in MI my wile life, I know the areas he speaks of and the times of year he is hunting in. I can relate to Steve's upbringing and lifestyle because that is how I live as well.. if you are an ethical and avid outdoorsman/woodsman, you will very much like this this book and how Steve presents his life stories!

Highly recommend to all!

Well done

I love this book. I appreciate Steve reading it himself. Thank you for the effort. Well done.

Brilliant book.

I am not a hunter. While I have never had a problem with hunting it was never something that was available to me. I grew up in Los Angeles, a wilderness of a much different kind. I was introduced to hunting through a friend of mine and eventually discovered Meateater and Steven Rinella. This book does a wonderful job of telling a compelling story while explaining Steve’s philosophy of hunting and what it means to be a hunter. I have so much more respect for hunting and hunters. Bravo, all non hunters would be wise to read this to help better understand the mind set of a hunter and the necessity of hunters to the conservation of wild life and the outdoors, if not to just better understand our fellow man.

Listen to it!

Interesting and educational read while running through the woods! I think everyone who ever eats meat should listen to understand this important perspective.

Awesome

Steven, I hope you don’t mind me being on a first name basis but since I have purchased a few of your books I took the liberty.
You are an exceptional writer not only for your stories but for your anecdotal thoughts and descriptions of your own thoughts. I am a almost seventy year old man who has hunted and fished since I was a child. The wood and waters of Maine have always been my “church “ and a place to go for a spiritual sojourn. You do a hell of a job of taking me on that journey just listening to your book. Thank you

Great book

The best about the book is giving us non hunters perspective of what hunting is about and why people hunt. I certainly changed my view

Finally Steven Rinella Narrates!

I love the Meateater book and could hear Steven Rinella’s voice in my head as I read it. It’s just as I can hear Anthony Bourdain’s voice when I read Kitchen Confidential. I’ve read both a few times. But I loved both for the same reasons.

Great Book

Terrific book and narration, Rinella is a must read author. Cannot recommend enough to anyone.

Amazing

I have been waiting years for the copy where Steven Rinella reads it, the wait was worth every second. You can hear his passion and his work. He is the Hemingway he is the Mark Twain of our generation.