New Books in Popular Culture Daniel Horowitz, "Bear With Me: A Cultural History of Famous Bears in America" (Duke UP, 2025)
Sep 5, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Daniel Horowitz, a Professor and author of "Bear With Me: A Cultural History of Famous Bears in America," explores America's deep-rooted fascination with bears. He highlights the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt's ethical choices in bear hunting and the rise of cultural icons like Smokey Bear. The conversation also touches on the evolution of tales like Goldilocks, the multifaceted symbolism of bears in modern media, and how they evoke both comfort and fear, reflecting broader societal themes.
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How COVID Sparked The Bear Project
- Daniel Horowitz started researching bears during COVID when web stories sparked his curiosity and imagination.
- He used lockdown time and personal storytelling to craft a lighter, one-off cultural history about bears.
Bears Encode Polar Emotions
- Horowitz argues bears attract us because they can embody both terror and comfort simultaneously.
- That emotional range makes bears useful cultural vessels for projecting human feelings.
Three Famous Violent Bear Stories
- Horowitz details three violent-bear stories: Hugh Glass, Grizzly Adams, and Timothy Treadwell, each showing public fascination with mauling narratives.
- He notes bear attacks loom large in imagination despite low statistical risk compared with accidents.
