{"product_id":"chasing-the-ghost-bear-mike-stark-9781496229021","title":"Chasing the Ghost Bear: On the Trail of America's Lost Super Beast","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2023 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReading the West Longlist for Nonfiction\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e No animal shakes the human consciousness quite like a bear, and few compare to the giant short-faced bears that stalked North America during the Pleistocene. Even among the mammoths and saber-toothed cats, they were a staggering sight: on all fours, the biggest would stare a six-foot person in the face and weigh close to a ton. On hind legs they towered more than ten feet, with jaws powerful enough to crush skulls and snap bones like twigs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The bears weren't invincible, however. Despite their size, they were swept off the planet in a mysterious wave of Ice Age extinctions more than ten thousand years ago, then mostly forgotten. \u003ci\u003eChasing the Ghost Bear\u003c\/i\u003e is Mike Stark's journey into the bear's enigmatic story--its life, disappearance, and rediscovery--and those trying to piece it together today. An engaging guide through his intrepid search, Stark's story leads us from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles to a cornfield in Indiana, the far ends of the Arctic, the plains of Texas, and the swamps of Florida. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Part natural history, part travelogue, and part meditation on extinction and loss, \u003ci\u003eChasing the Ghost Bear\u003c\/i\u003e returns these magnificent beasts to their rightful place in our understanding of the world just an epoch past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mike Stark\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1496229029\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496229021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bison Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/01\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.82lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.58d","brand":"Mike Stark","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44044450627839,"sku":"9781496229021","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_07d9fa0e-7a2f-49db-9e0e-4d2d4a5dfca8.jpg?v=1684972920","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/chasing-the-ghost-bear-mike-stark-9781496229021","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}