Bob Hunter published 13 books in his lifetime, here is a collection of his books from most recently published
Warriors of the Rainbow: A Chronicle of the Greenpeace Movement. (1979, republished 2012)
Henry Holt and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-03-043741-5.Amazon
Tracing Greenpeace from the anti-nuclear protest at Amchitka through to Bob’s departure from the organization, Warriors is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what is required to move from a feeling to a plan to action, failure and ultimate world wide success. Bob’s well developed journalistic style comes through as he explains the complicated nature of interpersonal relationships, organizational politics, the pitfalls and joys of activism and the energy needed to turn ideas into reality.
The Greenpeace to Amchitka : An Environmental Odyssey. (2005) with Robert Keziere
Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1-55152-178-4. Amazon
Described as a visceral memoir, Bob bears his roots in the Kerouac and Kesey tradition of being on the road, on the bus, on the boat. One cannot come away from reading this book without a sense of profound respect both for Bob’s vivid style and the (innocent) bravado that brought Greenpeace to life. Winner of the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness, The Greenpeace to Amchitka started as a raw, gonzo reportage, more than 30 years before publication, of the first voyage of the group that changed the world.
Thermageddon: Countdown to 2030. (2003)
Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-667-8. Amazon
Prophetically dedicated to his first grandchild, Bob opens Thermageddon with and explanation of how we may not have done what we needed to do in order to avoid the environmental collapse in 2030. A heartfelt letter to his grandson, and in your face warning to us, Bob looks at the science, politics, economics and social impact of our carbon addiction, and why we simply cannot cognate “mainlining oil”. Critical of government, industry and science alike, Bob cuts through the claptrap of climate debate with a simply but important message: It doesn’t much matter if all the proof and data aren’t yet in, climate catastrophe is the single most important issue of the 21st century. Anyone interested in the state of our planet needs to read, and take, the pledge that Bob writes at the end of this brutally honest book.
Red Blood: One (Mostly) White Guy’s Encounters with the Native World (2000)
Sierra Club Books for Children ISBN 978-1578050482 Amazon
Throughout his life, Bob was influenced by the Native world, sometimes directly, often indirectly. Red Blood looks at his growing awareness of the state of the treatment of the peoples and cultures who more than anyone in North America, are tied to the natural environment. Filled with both indigenous wisdom and intellectual insight, Bob’s reflections on the meaning and significance of aboriginal tradition and wisdom brings him to the reality of the violence of political activism and the conflict this creates with his own non-violent philosophy. Concepts and ideas developed from his earliest writing come to gritty reality and self-doubt. Red Blood forces us to look carefully at just how indifferent our attitude is to the suffering and extermination of the lives and cultures we have come to dominate.
Occupied Canada. (1991) with Robert Calihoo
McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-4295-7. Amazon
History has not been quite as honest, and Canada not quite as just, as many of believe. In this collaboration with Calihoo, Bob delves into history through the eyes and experiences of a child who learns, against what he knew, that he is not ‘white’. The realization brings him into the reality of the injustice of the justice system and its appalling treatment of first nations people. The need to do something about it sets them on a journey of discovery covering the reality of the European invasion of Canada and the cost to the First Nations of this. Never one to sugar coat, Bob’s ability to look clearly, in practical and real terms at the legacy of ‘our’ success, will change the way you look at both the ‘Canadian’ culture and the price paid by those on its margins.
On the Sky: Zen and the Art of International Freeloading. (1988)
McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-4289-2. Amazon
Unquestionably one of Bob’s best forays into ‘gonzo’, On the Sky was written as a first-person travel chronicle of someone clearly on the edge of reality. Depicted during a period when ‘free-form’ lifestyles were extolled in North American jet-set society, the book looks at life from the slightly seedy side of North American hegemony. Unfortunately misrepresented in later years, the book demonstrates a crossing of journalism and literary licence.
Cry Wolf! (1985) with Paul Watson
Shepherds of the Earth Publications. Amazon
Bob wrote this book with Paul Watson, the Greenpeace co-founder who more than anyone brought animal rights to the table for the organization. Written about Watson’t anti-wolf hunting campaign, the book take a close and revealing look at the politics and policies of how we treat the natural world. The corruption and lies of the BC government’s Wolf-eradication program are brought front and centre as Watson and others look to raise our awareness of the truth behind these abusive policies. Never for the natural world, and worse, often for the benefit of political pockets, such attitudes against the environmental web that we ourselves depend on for survival have been the abiding focus of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s work, which Bob supported through word and action.
The Greenpeace Chronicle. (1980)
To Save a Whale: The Voyages of Greenpeace (1978), with Rex Weyler
Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-87701-114-1
The Storming of the Mind (1971)
McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-4294-9. Amazon
A watershed moment when Bob realized that we need to give up both our addiction to carbon based fuel and our attitude of dominators of the natural environment. An insightful continuation of Enemies, Storming is as self-reflective as it is descriptive of the senselessness of violence as the basis of politics and economics, this book will open your eyes to how tacitly we accept on a global scale what we would never allow in our own backyards. The evolution of a world-changing mind unfolds on every page. This is the beginning of the Revolution of Consciousness and the Mind Bomb.
The Enemies of Anarchy (1970)
McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-4293-0. Amazon
Bob’s first attempt at putting on paper the complicated nature of power, politics, the environment and the notion of revolution. Enemies opened his mind to the need for a more realistic understanding of the forces that drive society and change, power, money, corruption and community. Sometimes anthropological, sometimes philosophical, this book introduces us to the complexity, practicality and necessity of understanding our relationship with technology and the possibility for human development.
Erebus (1968)
Grove Press, McClelland Stewart. ASIN: B0006BV8EU Amazon
Written at a time when Bob was ‘searching’ for meaning in the world, Erebus is a strange reflection on Winnipeg as “a place of darkness halfway between heaven and hell”. Many have found that this early work by the eco-warrior an important insight into what the world looks like (not just Winnipeg) when we take the time to really observe what goes on around us, our place in that world and our disconnected view of nature and our dependence on it.