Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America

Did Bigfoot just pop up one day or has it been around for a while? Veteran cryptozoologist Loren Coleman examines the question in Bigfoot!: The True Story of the Apes in America.After introducing himself and how his own researching of Bigfoot started, Coleman’s overview of the subject begins with events in 2000 when a rash of sightings made the news on the National level during the summer before the finding of the Skookum body cast in Washington state. After this hook, Coleman reviews the oral and written traditions and histories of Bigfoot from Native American tribes to colonist, settlers, hunters, and normal people up until 1958 when Jerry Crew made the first Bigfoot casts, and a “legend” was born. Coleman covers everything around the Bluff Creek incident and how it sparked the search for Bigfoot which led to the Patterson-Gimlin film that Coleman covers in-depth as well. Coleman completes his history with the “rise” of other bipedal “monsters” across the country from Florida’s Skunk Ape to Missouri’s Momo. The last half of the book is Coleman covering various topics and subjects that have arisen over the near half-century from Coleman’s own theory about three subspecies of Bigfoot—Classic, Eastern, and the North American Apes in the South—to the belief that Bigfoots were extraterrestrials during the last 1970s and many other things before Coleman finished the book by asking and answering three important questions at this point in the search of Bigfoot.This is book is a excellent overview of the history of Bigfoot by one of the best cryptozoological researchers to have worked in the field and who worked alongside many of the early and important scientists that studied the subject soon after 1958. Through Coleman focuses on history, he does cover some scientific subjects including one that is not talked about much by researchers. Coleman’s inclusion of his subspecies theory and supporting evidence, especially related to the more apish subspecies of the American South and southern Midwest, adds to the overall work.Although Loren Coleman’s Bigfoot! Is almost two-decades old, it is still relevant for anyone interested in Bigfoot/Sasquatch whether one has been a long-time enthusiast or newly interested.

I think the reason that I wasn’t fully engrossed in this book was that I read it last and I’ve read hundreds of Bigfoot books before it so mostly everything in it I already knew. Don’t get me wrong it was very informative book it just lacked personality.

Solid read. Thoroughly enjoyed it

Good flow and very informative. Not a bunch of Hocus-pocus

Unfortunately, this is a terrible book. I was looking for a definitive text that would both summarize the history of the Bigfoot phenomenon, as well as smartly capture the current theories and efforts to further explore the creature. This book did neither, or at least did not do so in a useful and intelligent manner.The author does summarize in a fashion the history of Bigfoot sightings and encounters, and includes supposed historical cultural references to a large, anthropic, North American cryptid. This summary, however, is haphazard at best, and incompetent at average, and purposefully misleading at worst. It is very poorly written from a purely literary standpoint. The author darts all over the subject, going form place to place and time period to time period with no logic or cohesion.This was probably the most frustrating thing for me- that the cultural history of Bigfoot was treated in a fashion as to make it unreadable and useless. I was really looking forward to learning the similarities and differences in Bigfoot legends amongst the many wonderful First American tribes across the continent. Unfortunately, the subject was treated like a trailer full of lies, half-truths, and ill-formed conclusions, all tossed about by a tornado.I would advise to NOT purchase this book. While I do not know which of the many Bigfoot books out there are any better, I do know this one is not worth the time of anyone with even a slightly intelligent and analytic mind.

This was a good read. There is a lot of history in here about the search for Bigfoot that can help a modern investigator understand the background f what has gone before. Some of Loren's views may be a little controversial but it is definitely food for thought. Anyone interested in Bigfoot will likely enjoy this book. Note that a a very large bibliography is in the back so the book isn't quite as long as you think when you first pick it up or see it on Kindle.

My take: Worth the read, but a little disjointed in the approach. Some good information, but the writing and subject matter seems to jump around a bit a times.To the author's favor, he is obviously a recognized player in the bigfooting field, and has done extensive research over many years. Also, he seems to make a commendable effort to give credit where credit is due, as he mentions (by name) other figures - both known and not so well known - in the bigfooting community.Overall, a fun read, and one of the better books out there in this subject area.

Loren Coleman is a writer who believes what he writes, and has spent a life time in persuit of the the truth of bigfoot. I found the book to be well written and informative. It was not a white wash of the subject either. There was enough skeptical information presented in this book to make even hard core believers think hard before accepting rumors and stories as true. The book gave information on various bigfoot like creatures that don't fit the common bigfoot mold, without becoming disjointed. It's a very interesting subject that will never be fully settled until a bigfoot, alive of dead is found and studied

Covers a wide range of topics relating to this field, lots of little bits in there that I did not know including some info on unidentified apes in places other than the USA. Can recommend.

Loren Coleman has written a serious work in this little book. It is crammed full of facts about the American apes and he has approached his subject as one who has spent his entire life in the study and quest for these creatures. A firm believer himself, however, he does not ram his convictions down his reader's throat. He gives us the facts and also the arguments against - given the large amount of hoaxes and ridicule he and other serious men of science have been subjected to when investigating this contravertial subject. The Russians do not treat this subject of homanids in Siberia with levity, but treat the subject seriously. In America it seems to offer great oportunites for commercial enterprise.Let's be honest about it, there is no reason why a vast country like the USA should not have its own species of apes - a cross between the apes we are all aquainted with and humans. I found his nchapter of the Skunk ape of Florida particularly interesting - a species of Orangutang. There is no reason why their ancestors have not been released into the wild some years ago, perhaps from a zoo that went bust during the depression or something such like.All in all, I enjoyed this book and did not lose interest in it. It was not over the top or sensationalist, but is a serious starting point for anyone with a genuine interest in this subject who does not regard it as a source of amusement.

Very interesting book on a controversial subject

Good book

great reading