The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family | 
 enlarge | Author: Walt Harrington
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 55269
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0802140505
Dewey Decimal Number: 799.2
EAN: 9780802140500
ASIN: 0802140505
Publication Date: January 14, 2004
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Product Description
Hailed as a Best Book of 2002 by Newsday and a Noteworthy Book by the Kansas City Star, The Everlasting Stream received glowing praise in hardcover. When Walt Harrington was first invited to spend Thanksgiving on his father-in-law's farm in rural Kentucky, he was a high-profile reporter for The Washington Post who had, over the years, developed a distaste for the archaic men who kill animals for sport. Little did he know that over the next twelve years of Thanksgiving cottontail hunts, his companions that first morning — four African-American country men and lifelong friends who seemed to have nothing in common with the white city slicker — would change not only his opinions about hunting, but also his feelings about the things that mattered to him the most. In crisp, often poetic prose that brings autumn mornings crackling to life, The Everlasting Stream shares the lessons that convinced Harrington to leave the city at the top of his career, eventually to introduce his growing son to a world of life, death, nature, and manhood that seemed more rewarding to him than his beltway existence of traffic jams and designer suits.
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| Customer Reviews:
 "Everything's beautiful if you look at it right." February 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Everlasting Stream, by Walt Harrington, is a hunting book that isn't a book about hunting. I had read a brief review about this book being a good addition to the pro-hunting literature. Well, it was, in a sense. Harrington is a fine writer, and most pro-hunting books tend to focus on the charismatic megafauna like deer and elk. Harrington's focus is on the common and ordinary, the prolific cottontail. No trophy hunting here; this is all about hunting for meat.
What does Harrington say in defense of hunting?
"Animals bleed. Live with it" (p. 146).
"It doesn't matter to a rabbit what kills him - fever, flukes, worms, weather, hawks, or me. The rabbit is dead" (p. 184).
"Killing an animal doesn't deaden the human conscience; it enlivens it" (p. 184).
"Hunting isn't golf or tennis, which demand only technical mastery. Hunting isn't merely an exercise in male bonding, as so many believe. Hunting has moral gravitas" (p. 185).
"It is people who enjoy the fruits of the kill without feeling the ominous responsibility of the killing who are morally delinquent" (p. 186).
"I'm not supposed to hunt without guilt. I'm supposed to hunt despite the guilt" (p. 187).
"Long ago, a woman at my table said to me, 'I can't believe you killed those little bunnies.' I now know what I should have said in response. 'I can't believe you ate those little bunnies without killing one'" (p. 189).
Harrington isn't perfect. He confesses a time when "I fire, and the rabbit tumbles, heels over head. When I reach down, the rabbit suddenly kicks his hind legs violently and drubs my hand twice before I can pull away... I use the butt of my gun like a deadfall and club the rabbit's head. After I do, his left eye dangles from its socket. I take out my knife that I will give to Matt at Christmas, slice the eye free, and put the rabbit in my bag" (p. 214).
I certainly hope he removed the shells from his shotgun before using it as a club. And although Harrington did not appear to be apologetic for his act, there is a line between killing an animal and torturing it. It is this line that society scrutinizes. He hints at its existence with his "It doesn't matter to a rabbit what kills him..." comment; however, it does matter to society, and I would say it should matter to the hunter as well.
With this said, this book is much, much more than a book about hunting. Harrington explores issues of manhood (and boyhood), parenting, memories, and livelihoods. He discusses race relations (Harrington's hunting buddies are black while he is white), politics, friends, and folklore. He reflects on his passions, and eventually makes some drastic, life-altering decisions.
All in 217 pages. The subtitle says it all: The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family.
Harrington's father repeatedly said to him, "Everything's beautiful if you look at it right." I'd say this IS the theme of the book.
If you are not a hunter, keep reading through the hunting scenes. Harrington keeps springing new topics and ideas upon the reader.
There is something here for everyone.
excellent January 14, 2008
brand new book for a great price
a most excellent book
my husband is enjoying
 A fascinating look at life and being a man March 11, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Having married an African-American woman, journalist Walt Harrington found himself expected to maintain the family traditions by going rabbit hunting with his father-in-law, and his friends, every Thanksgiving. At first, Walt looked down on these course, back-country men as throwbacks to an earlier, more primitive way of life. With time, though, he came to realize that these men shared a different, stronger bond than he had ever known. Unconsciously, they showed him what being a man could be all about, and he learned many lessons as he (and later him and his son) hunted rabbits in the hills of Kentucky.This book came as quite a surprise to me. I tripped across it by accident, and am quite glad that I did. It's written in a stream-of-consciousness style, which allows the author to skip forward and backward through time, showing his development throughout. Indeed, if you are interested in men's books (such as those by Robert Bly), then I highly recommend that you get this one. It is a fascinating look at life and being a man.
Tradition, friendship and hunting. December 29, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
A thoughtful, beautifully written, almost poetic meditation on hunting, tradition, friendship, nature and human nature. It is ostensibly about rabbit hunting, but that is not where this book's meaning lies nor where the heart of its story is. Its story and meaning lie with the people, and Harrington writes in a voice so personal that you feel you know him and his family and friends. This is not a book for the PETA crowd, or for those who call rabbits "bunnies." If you've ever hunted, or if you understand the true nature of Nature, you'll enjoy The Everlasting Stream. (Note: This review has been written by a woman who, although she does not hunt, has shot the occasional rabbit when its depredations in her garden have become intolerable and the Hav-a-Hart trap proved ineffectual.)
Three tales in one October 2, 2002
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
"The Everlasting Stream" is a tale about male relationships, about self discovery and about hunting that does justice to all three subjects. While many books use one story as a vessel to carry another, this develops all three stories simultaneously and completely.Author Walt Harrington portrays himself as a snobby Washington Post reporter who finds himself tramping around Kentucky fields, shooting rabbits with his father-in-law's hunting buddies to prove he is not above them. Through the Thanksgiving hunts, Harrington comes to respect the men. He comes to understand himself and to wonder how he so misplaced himself. He grows up with his son and reconsiders his relationship with his late father. Through it all, he thinks deeply about the experience of hunting, turning inside out his initial revulsion to it. In the end, the hunts lead him to make a profound change in his life. Harrington finds answers, real-life answers, and not the clear-cut, no-regrets answers of cardboard stories. As Harrington re-evaluates his life, male friendships and hunting, you will, too. It's a journey worth taking, and Harrington is an engaging guide.
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