My Place: Adventures of a Lifetime in the Outdoors

Glorifying in rhapsodic prose the art of hunting and killing, this book seems oddly anachronistic in an age increasingly concerned with the wanton destruction of wildlife. But the author, a founder of Bowhunter magazine, doesn't quiver from justifying his sport in 24 smug essays that romanticize his many years in the American wilds, devoted mostly to the pursuit of deer with bow and arrow. Little of this material, which also covers James's love for hunting dogs, dislike for housecats (`indiscriminate killers'') and affection for an old Hoosier hunting buddy, is likely to appeal to the uninitiated. Such comments as ``I'm a hunter. Like you'' assume a sympathetic readership, but the author seems overeager to rationalize his endeavors and separate himself, as a hunter, from mere shooters. ( July )