Warren Page was the Guns editor for Field and Stream for twenty-four years from about the mid-forties to the early seventies. Unless you are very old you may not have heard of him for he stood in the shadow of Jack O'Connor and Elmer Keith. He only came to my attention when I read the books of legendary Alaska bear guide Ralph Young a couple of years ago. Young seemed to regard him highly. I made no special effort to research what he wrote and it was only recently that "One Man's Wilderness" came to my attention.
The book consists of 50 chapters, most of which are reprints from F&S but with some new material. Page was at least as good a writer as JOC and certainly more likable if his own writing is a guide -- no where in these pages is their any hint of grumpiness or braggadocio. Of course, he easily outshines Keith in both those attributes. He was a graduate of Harvard back when a Harvard degree meant something and it shows in both his ability with the pen and also the erudition that occasionally bursts through the page.
Warren Kempton Page (1910 - 1977) was born in New England and wasn't a gun nut in his youth. He went to Harvard on a baseball scholarship. After Harvard he taught at a prep school, then served in the navy as a lieutenant. At some point he "got on the bottle" as they say but licked this addiction and eventually applied for the fishing editorship of F&S but since that job was taken he was hired on as the shooting editor and began an intensive self course in guns and shooting. An athlete, he became quite a good shooter.
Page didn't "push" cartridges the way O'Connor pushed the .270 WCF, but he used the various big 7s, from the Remington Magnum on up more exclusively than O'Connor used the .270. He took lion and leopard with them but for the big stuff his other favored caliber was the .375 Weatherby. He hunted world wide and ended up with about 15 African safaris under his belt.
The last chapter of his book, on the probably future of hunting, is a masterpiece.
Recommend.
