Bless the Beasts and Children is a 1970 novel by Glendon Swarthout that tells the story of several emotionally disturbed boys away at summer camp who unite to stop a buffalo hunt. The 151-page (192 pages in paperback, first edition) book covers some social issues of the 1960s and 1970s. It was published by Doubleday.
An unabridged audiobook recording of the novel was released in 2005 by Books on Tape and read by Scott Brick. [1]
Six emotionally disturbed teenaged boys are sent from their homes throughout the United States by their affluent parents to Box Canyon Boys Camp near Prescott, Arizona, as the camp's slogan is "Send us a boy – we'll send you a cowboy", and the parents hope that the camp will mature the boys.
Each having originally been assigned to one of the six cabins, they are quickly cast out by the other campers and find themselves together in one cabin. After a contest between the six cabins sorts out the pecking order, their cabin predictably lands in last place. The boys, in accordance with the camp rules, do manage to raid all of the superior cabins and conquer their trophies so as to advance in rank, but they use badly executed subterfuge that is looked down upon by the other campers.
Five of the six cabins are named after various American Indian tribes and awarded mounted animal heads corresponding to each of the cabins' ranks, which are, from highest to lowest:
All of the Bedwetters refer to one another by last names, including the two Lally brothers, who are referred to as Lally 1 and Lally 2, although their first names are known.
An unpleasant confrontation between the boys and their counselor, resulting from the counselor's attempt to molest the youngest of the boys, ends with Teft breaking into their counselor's footlocker, finding whiskey, beer, cigarettes, and pornography. This find allows the Bedwetters to blackmail the counselor, who is called "Wheaties", into taking them to a ranch, where they witness a canned hunt of surplus bison rounded up from the surrounding area. The hunters (who won their spots at that hunt by lottery) stand or even sit along a fence, shooting at the fenced-in, nearly tame bison.
When the boys return, disgusted at the slaughter, they decide to break out of camp that night to stop the canned hunt. They ride horses into town, where Teft hot-wires an old truck. After a ride into Flagstaff, Arizona, on U.S. Route 66, they enter an all-night eatery for food but are accosted by two "redneck" types, who follow them away from the restaurant and force their truck to the side, where they discover it is hot-wired. Teft pulls a .22-caliber rifle from the back of the truck and shoots out a tire on the car driven by the men harassing the boys, then orders the men to start walking or "wear earrings".
Cotton and the other boys climb back into the truck and continue their journey to the ranch, but run out of gas just before reaching their destination. They walk the rest of the way and make their way through the fence maze on the ranch until they manage to open the exit gate so the bison can escape. However, the bison are content to stay until Teft hot-wires a state-owned truck and Cotton drives into the herd of buffalo while blowing the truck's horn, which alerts the hunters who are camped out nearby. Cotton drives the truck through the herd of buffalo and over the edge of the Mogollon Rim to his death, and the hunters surround the other boys.
A bidding war occurred later that year over the film rights, eventually won by Stanley Kramer. [2] Kramer negotiated with Columbia Pictures for the right to produce and direct the film, [3] which made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in August 1971 as the United States' entry in the international competition. [4] [5]
Sterling County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,143, making it the ninth-least populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Sterling City. The county is named for W. S. Sterling, an early settler in the area. Sterling County was one of 30 prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas, but is now a moist county.
Scouting in Texas has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, so that they may play constructive roles in society.
Littlefield is a city in and the county seat of Lamb County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,372 at the 2010 census. It is located in a significant cotton-growing region, northwest of Lubbock on the Llano Estacado just south of the Texas Panhandle. Littlefield had a large denim-manufacturing plant operated by American Cotton Growers.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is an American national park comprising three geographically separated areas of badlands in western North Dakota. Honoring U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the only American national park named directly after a single person.
Bug Juice is a Disney Channel reality series that premiered on February 28, 1998. The series focuses around 20 kids and their experiences at summer camp. Together, the kids work hard to excel in their activities and become friends. The phrase bug juice is a camping slang term for a very sweet juice drink made from powdered mixes, such as Kool-Aid, which are often served at summer camps.
Heavyweights is a 1995 American family comedy film directed by Steven Brill and written by Brill with Judd Apatow. The film follows a fat camp for kids that is taken over by a fitness guru named Tony Perkis.
Sabretooth is a 2002 made for television science-fiction-horror film directed by James D.R. Hickox. When a genetically-engineered saber-toothed cat escapes from containment into a forest and starts killing a group of campers, a billionaire and the scientist that created the creature hire a big-game hunter to find it. It premiered as a Sci Fi Pictures TV-movie on the Sci Fi Channel on November 16, 2002.
A canned hunt is a trophy hunt which is not "fair chase", typically by having game animals kept in a confined area such as in a fenced ranch to prevent the animals' escape and make tracking easier for the hunter, in order to increase the likelihood of the hunter obtaining a kill. The term has been used for driven grouse shooting, in which large areas of Britain are farmed for red grouse. According to WordNet, a canned hunt is a "hunt for animals that have been raised on game ranches until they are mature enough to be killed for trophy collections."
Antelope Island, with an area of 42 square miles (109 km2), is the largest of ten islands located within the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah. The island lies in the southeastern portion of the lake, near Salt Lake City and Davis County, and becomes a peninsula when the lake is at extremely low levels. It is protected as Antelope Island State Park.
Summer Camp Nightmare is an American 1987 thriller film directed by Bert L. Dragin and starring Chuck Connors and Charlie Stratton. The film is based on the novel The Butterfly Revolution by William Butler.
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is a 1988 American slasher film written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It is the second installment in the Sleepaway Camp film series, and stars Pamela Springsteen as Angela, and Renée Estevez. The film takes place five years after the events of the original, and features serial killer Angela, working as a counselor, murdering misbehaving teenagers at another summer camp.
Frost Valley YMCA is a camping, environmental education, and conferencing center located in Claryville, New York, part of the Catskill Mountains. Founded in 1901 as Camp Wawayanda, the camp moved to its present location in 1958.
Bless the Beasts and Children is a 1971 film adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Glendon Swarthout. It was directed by Stanley Kramer and stars Bill Mumy and Barry Robins.
Falling Creek Camp is a residential camp for boys in Tuxedo, North Carolina. Falling Creek was founded in 1968 by Jim Miller. Four sessions are held each summer, and range from six- to 27-day camps.
Bison hunting was an activity fundamental to the economy and society of the Plains Indians peoples who inhabited the vast grasslands on the Interior Plains of North America, prior to the animal's near-extinction in the late nineteenth century following US expansion into the West. Bison hunting was an important spiritual practice and source of material for these groups, especially after the European introduction of the horse in the 16th through 18th centuries enabled new hunting techniques. The species' dramatic decline was the result of habitat loss due to the expansion of ranching and farming in western North America, industrial-scale hunting practiced by non-indigenous hunters, increased indigenous hunting pressure due to non-indigenous demand for bison hides and meat, and cases of deliberate policy by settler governments to destroy the food source of the Indigenous peoples during times of conflict.
Camp Watonka was a residential summer camp for boys aged seven to sixteen in Wayne County, Pennsylvania from 1963 to 2019. It was the only science camp for boys accredited by the American Camp Association in the United States. Accommodation was in traditional cabins with modern bathrooms and electricity. Campers could stay for two, four, six or eight weeks.
American Prairie is a massive prairie-based nature reserve in northeastern Montana being developed as a private project of the American Prairie Foundation (APF). This independent non-profit organization is creating a wildlife conservation area that will ultimately be over 3 million contiguous acres (12,000 km2) through a combination of both private and public lands to establish a fully functioning mixed grass prairie ecosystem, complete with migration corridors and native wildlife. The reserve improves public access and enjoyment of this unique natural habitat and provides economic benefits to the local economy.
YMCA Camp Mason is a YMCA summer camp located in Hardwick Township, New Jersey. The 650-acre site is located next to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Camp Mason annually serves approximately 800 campers in its summer camp programs, and 7,000 participants at its outdoor center.
Métis buffalo hunting began on the North American plains in the late 1700s and continued until 1878. The great buffalo hunts were subsistence, political, economic, and military operations for Métis families and communities living in the region. At the height of the buffalo hunt era, there were two major hunt seasons: summer and autumn. These hunts were highly organized, with an elected council to lead the expedition. This made sure the process was fair and all families were well-fed and provided for throughout the year.
Cheley Colorado Camps is a traditional, residential summer camp, in the Estes Park Valley. Cheley is located at three unique sites: Land O'Peaks Ranch in Estes Park, Colorado, which houses three girls' units and three boys' units, and Trail's End Ranch for Boys and Trail's End Ranch for Girls in Glen Haven, Colorado. Since 1921, Cheley Colorado Camps has welcomed more than 50,000 young people from every state and more than a dozen countries, including many second, third, and fourth generation Cheley campers. Offering two traditional 4-week terms for 9-17-year-olds, a 5-night program for 7-10-year-old campers, a family camp, and more, Cheley hosts over 1,200 campers each summer. Often appearing on "best summer camps" lists, it is internationally renowned.