Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
American Sniper meets Jaws in this gripping true account of the deadliest animal of all time, the Champawat Tiger--responsible for killing more than 400 hundred humans in northern India in the first decade of the twentieth century--and the legendary hunter who finally brought it down.
At the turn of the twentieth century, in the forested foothills of the Himalayas between India and Nepal, a large Bengal tiger began preying on humans. Between 1900 and 1907, the fearsome beast locals called the Champawat Man-Eater claimed 436 lives. Successfully evading both hunters and soldiers from the Nepalese army and growing bolder with its kills, the tiger--commonly a nocturnal predator--prowled settlements and roadways even in broad daylight. Entire villages were virtually abandoned.
Desperate for help, authorities appealed to Jim Corbett, an Indian-born officer in the British Indian Army and local hunter intimately familiar with the Champawat forest. Like a police detective on the trail of a human killer, Corbett questioned villagers who had encountered the tiger and began tracking its movements in the dense, hilly woodlands--while the animal began to hunt Corbett in return. When the big cat attacked a teenager and dragged her away, Corbett followed the blood trail deep into the forest--a harrowing, dramatic chase that would ultimately end the maneater's long reign of terror.
In this rip-roaring adventure and compelling natural history, Dane Huckelbridge recreates one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century, bringing into focus a principled, disciplined soldier, hunter, and conservationist--who would later earn fame for his devotion to saving the Bengal tiger and its habitat--and the beautiful, terrifying animal he patiently pursued. Written with the thrilling immediacy of John Vaillant's The Tiger, Susan Casey's The Devil's Teeth, and Nate Blakeslee's American Wolf, No Beast So Fierce is an enthralling depiction of a classic battle between man and animal, human encroachment and wild nature that resonates today.
Synopsis
A gripping, multifaceted true account of the deadliest animal of all time and the hunter on its trail, equally comparable to Jaws as to Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard.
"RIVETING. A HAUNTING TALE." --Scientific American - "THRILLING." --Wall Street Journal - "GRIPPING. COMPELLING. DIGS DEEP INTO CAUSATION." --Nature - "A SUPERB WORK." --Booklist, starred - "VIVID. A GRIPPING TALE OF LIFE AND DEATH." --Minneapolis Star Tribune
A National Indie Bestseller
Nepal, c. 1900: The single deadliest animal in recorded history began stalking humans, moving like a phantom through the lush foothills of the Himalayas.
As the death toll reached an astonishing 436 lives, a young local hunter was dispatched to stop the now-legendary man-eater before it struck again.
One part pulse-pounding thriller, one part soulful natural history of the endangered Royal Bengal tiger, acclaimed writer Dane Huckelbridge's No Beast So Fierce is the gripping, true account of the Champawat Tiger, which terrified northern India and Nepal from 1900 to 1907, and Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter who pursued it. Huckelbridge's masterful telling also reveals that the tiger, Corbett, and the forces that brought them together are far more complex and fascinating than a simple man-versus-beast tale.
At the turn of the twentieth century as British rule of India tightened and bounties were placed on tiger's heads, a tigress was shot in the mouth by a poacher. Injured but alive, it turned from its usual hunting habits to easier prey--humans. For the next seven years, this man-made killer terrified locals, growing bolder with every kill. Colonial authorities, desperate for help, finally called upon Jim Corbett, a then-unknown railroad employee of humble origins who had grown up hunting game through the hills of Kumaon.
Like a detective on the trail of a serial killer, Corbett tracked the tiger's movements in the dense, hilly woodlands--meanwhile the animal shadowed Corbett in return. Then, after a heartbreaking new kill of a young woman whom he was unable to protect, Corbett followed the gruesome blood trail deep into the forest where hunter and tiger would meet at last.
Drawing upon on-the-ground research in the Indian Himalayan region where he retraced Corbett's footsteps, Huckelbridge brings to life one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century. And yet Huckelbridge brings a deeper, more complex story into focus, placing the episode into its full context for the first time: that of colonialism's disturbing impact on the ancient balance between man and tiger; and that of Corbett's own evolution from a celebrated hunter to a principled conservationist who in time would earn fame for his devotion to saving the Bengal tiger and its habitat. Today the Corbett Tiger Reserve preserves 1,200 km of wilderness; within its borders is Jim Corbett National Park, India's oldest and most prestigious national park and a vital haven for the very animals Corbett once hunted.
An unforgettable tale, magnificently told, No Beast So Fierce is an epic of beauty, terror, survival, and redemption for the ages.
Synopsis
The astonishing true story of the tiger that claimed a record 437 human lives
"Gripping." --Nature - "Thrilling. Fascinating. Exciting." --Wall Street Journal - "Riveting. Haunting." --Scientific American
Nepal, c. 1900: A lone tigress began stalking humans, moving like a phantom through the lush foothills of the Himalayas. As the death toll reached an astonishing 436 lives, a young local hunter was dispatched to stop the man-eater before it struck again. This is the extraordinary true story of the "Champawat Man-Eater," the deadliest animal in recorded history.
One part pulse-pounding thriller, one part soulful natural history of the endangered Royal Bengal tiger, No Beast So Fierce is Dane Huckelbridge's gripping nonfiction account of the Champawat tiger, which terrified northern India and Nepal from 1900 to 1907, and Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter who pursued it. Huckelbridge's masterful telling also reveals that the tiger, Corbett, and the forces that brought them together are far more complex and fascinating than a simple man-versus-beast tale.
At the turn of the twentieth century as British rule of India tightened and bounties were placed on tiger's heads, a tigress was shot in the mouth by a poacher. Injured but alive, it turned from its usual hunting habits to easier prey--humans. For the next seven years, this man-made killer terrified locals, growing bolder with every kill. Colonial authorities, desperate for help, finally called upon Jim Corbett, a then-unknown railroad employee of humble origins who had grown up hunting game through the hills of Kumaon.
Like a detective on the trail of a serial killer, Corbett tracked the tiger's movements in the dense, hilly woodlands--meanwhile the animal shadowed Corbett in return. Then, after a heartbreaking new kill of a young woman whom he was unable to protect, Corbett followed the gruesome blood trail deep into the forest where hunter and tiger would meet at last.
Drawing upon on-the-ground research in the Indian Himalayan region where he retraced Corbett's footsteps, Huckelbridge brings to life one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century. And yet Huckelbridge brings a deeper, more complex story into focus, placing the episode into its full context for the first time: that of colonialism's disturbing impact on the ancient balance between man and tiger; and that of Corbett's own evolution from a celebrated hunter to a principled conservationist who in time would earn fame for his devotion to saving the Bengal tiger and its habitat. Today the Corbett Tiger Reserve preserves 1,200 km of wilderness; within its borders is Jim Corbett National Park, India's oldest and most prestigious national park and a vital haven for the very animals Corbett once hunted.
An unforgettable tale, magnificently told, No Beast So Fierce is an epic of beauty, terror, survival, and redemption for the ages.