J. A. Baker

The Peregrine, which won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1967, recounts a single year from the author's ten–year obsession with the peregrines that wintered near his home in eastern England. The writing is lyrically charged throughout, as the author's role of diligent observer gives way to a personal transformation, as Baker becomes, in the words of James Dickey, "a fusion of man and bird."

The Hill of Summer and Diaries

The Peregrine

John Alec Baker

A memoir of life in the wild on the trail of the peregrine falcon chronicles the habits and hunting techniques of the elusive predator while revealing the effects of human encroachment on their habitats. Original.

ben wolfson

fuck this was good. such gorgeous prose, my mans JA Baker could paint a scene.

Simon Elliott Stegall

Frequently beautiful, but falls into the classic trap of nature writing (at least for me)- that it is too long and repetitive.

Fable

Arman Keyvanskhou

Nitin Garg

Maximilian Schulz

Reissue of J. A. Baker s extraordinary classic of British nature writing Despite the association of peregrines with the wild, outer reaches of the British Isles, The Peregrine is set on the flat marshes of the Essex coast, where J A Baker spent a long winter looking and writing about the visitors from the uplands peregrines that spend the winter hunting the huge flocks of pigeons and waders that share the desolate landscape with them. Including original diaries from which The Peregrine was written and its companion volume The Hill of Summer, this is a beautiful compendium of lyrical nature writing at its absolute best. Such luminaries as Richard Mabey, Robert Macfarlane, Ted Hughes and Andrew Motion have cited this as one of the most important books in 20th Century nature writing, and the bestselling author Mark Cocker has provided an introduction on the importance of Baker, his writings and the diaries creating the essential volume of Baker's writings. Papers, maps, and letters have recently come to light which in turn provide a little more background into J A Baker s history. Contemporaries particularly from his time at school in Chelmsford have provided insights, remembering a school friend who clearly made an impact on his generation. Among fragments of letters to Baker was one from a reader who praised a piece that Baker had written in RSPB Birds magazine in 1971. Apart from a paper on peregrines which Baker wrote for the Essex Bird Report, this article entitled On the Essex Coast appears to be his only other published piece of writing, and, with the agreement of the RSPB, it has been included in this updated new paperback edition of Baker s astounding work."

The Peregrine The Hill of Summer and Diaries

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