"The Tiger is the sort of book I very much like and rarely find. Humans are hardwired to fear tigers, so this book will attract intense interest. In addition to tiger lore and scalding adventure, Vaillant shows us Russia's Far East and its inhabitants, their sometimes desperate lives interwoven with the economics of poaching and the politics of wildlife conservation. This is a book not only for adventure buffs, but for all of us interested in wildlife habitat preservation."ùAnnie Proulx"This book must be read by everybody who is interested in the conservation of wildlife. It takes you to the Russian wilderness to meet face-to-face with the Siberian tiger."ùTemple Grandin"This elegant work of narrative nonfiction has it allùbeauty, intrigue, a primeval locale, fully realized characters, and a conflict that speaks to the state of our world. Obsessively well-researched and artfully written, The Tiger takes us on a journey to the raw edge of civilization, to a world of vengeful cats and venal men, a world that, in Vaillant's brilliant telling, is simultaneously haunting and enchanting."ùHampton Sides"The Tiger offers a richly textured, compelling story of Nature and Man at oddsùand at riskùin Russia's Far East. Grounded in meticulous research and informed by extensive fieldwork, the narrative graphically conveys the fragility of life in the unforgiving taiga, where a single misstep can turn hunter into quarry."ùJohn J. Stephan"An absolutely superb book. There have been many tiger books, but none which so deeply try to probe the mind of tigers and the mind and habits of humans living in the same forest."ùGeorge Schaller"This book is magnificent, surely the best chronicle ever published of the wild Amur tigers in Russia's Far East. In it are chilling accounts of human encounters with tigersùbut these encounters, however fearsome, convincingly demonstrate the role that these enormous cats continue to play in the natural world. Equally compelling are the people of Primacye, those who of necessity must hunt the tigers, and chose who would preserve them. To call this book a page-turner is an understatement. It's riveting."ùElizabeth Marshall ThomasIt's December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia's Far East. The tiger isn't just killing people, it's annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren't random: the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.As he re-creates these extraordinary events, John Valliant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers, even sharing their kills with them. We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations. And we come to know their descendants, who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region.This ancient, tenuous relationship between man and predator is at the very heart of this remarkable book. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters, and how early Homo sapiens may have fit seamlessly into the tiger's ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator that can grow to ten feet long, weigh more than six hundred pounds, and range daily over vast territories of forest and mountain.Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger circles around three main characters: Vladimir Markov, a poacher killed by the tiger; Yuri Trush, the lead tracker; and the tiger himself. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga. Read Less