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Tiger A True Story of Vengeance & Survival

by John Vaillant
Tiger A True Story of Vengeance & Survival

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  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Reading Group Guide
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ISBN13: 9780307389046
ISBN10: 0307389049
Condition: Like New


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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

It'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 Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshiped 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.

Review

“Magnificent....Suspenseful....The Tiger offers readers a shiver-inducing portrait of a predator.” San Francisco Chronicle

Review

“A masterpiece....What elevates The Tiger from adventure yarn to nonfiction classic is Vaillant’s mastery of language.” Outside

Review

“[A] riveting story....Vaillant’s book teaches a lesson that humankind desperately needs to remember: When you murder a tiger, you not only kill a strong and beautiful beast, you extinguish a passionate soul.” Washington Post

Review

“[An] epic story....A travelogue about tiger poaching in Russia’s far east opens up a new genre....[the] conservation thriller." Nature

Review

“If ever a nonfiction author has used the techniques of fiction any better to recount a real-life narrative, it is difficult to imagine who that author would be....Think of Vaillant as a younger version of John McPhee, but on steroids.” The Seattle Times

Synopsis

A gripping story of man pitted against nature’s most fearsome and efficient predator.

 

Outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East a man-eating tiger is on the prowl. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s murdering them, almost as if it has a vendetta. A team of trackers is dispatched to hunt down the tiger before it strikes again. They know the creature is cunning, injured, and starving, making it even more dangerous. As John Vaillant re-creates these extraordinary events, he gives us an unforgettable and masterful work of narrative nonfiction that combines a riveting portrait of a stark and mysterious region of the world and its people, with the natural history of nature’s most deadly predator.

Synopsis

Acclaimed nature writer Rick Bass takes us on a journey into the Namib Desert to follow a group of poachers-turned-conservationists as they track the endangered black rhinos through their ancient and harsh African homeland.

Synopsis

“An extraordinary exploration and meditation . . . [Bass] transports us along on this wonder-filled tour, full of hardness and hope, into an otherworldly place that mirrors our own.” —National Geographic Traveler

Black rhinos are not actually black. They are, however, giant animals with tiny eyes, feet the diameter of laundry baskets, and horns that are prized for both their aesthetic and medicinal qualities. Until recently, these creatures were perched on the edge of extinction, their numbers dwindling as they succumbed to poachers and the ravages of civil war. Now their numbers are rising, thanks to a groundbreaking new conservation method from the Save the Rhino Trust: make sure that rhinos are worth more alive than dead.

Rick Bass, who has long worn the uneasy mantle of both activist and hunter, traveled to Namibia to find black rhinos. The tale of his journey provides a deeper understanding of these amazing animals and of just what needs to be done to protect them.

“Bass provides a singularly thoughtful portrait of a unique animal, and a meditation on mankind’s relationship to both it and the natural world as a whole.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune


About the Author

John Vaillant's first book was the national bestseller The Golden Spruce, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction, as well as several other awards. He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Outside, National Geographic and The Walrus, among other publications. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and children.

Table of Contents

Prologue vii

Part I: Pastoral 1

Part II: Wild 77

Part III: Dust 197

Epilogue 240

Acknowledgments 269


Reading Group Guide

1. The Tiger is a riveting book, with the momentum of a thriller and the depth of insight of an extended philosophical meditation. How does Vaillant create suspense throughout the book? What are the major insights he offers about tigers and the larger issues that come into focus through his investigation of the killing of Vladimir Markov?

2. What historical forces have contributed to the desperate conditions facing the people of the Primorye? How understandable/forgivable is their poaching?

3. Vaillant writes: “What is amazing—and also terrifying about tigers—is their facility for what can only be described as abstract thinking. Very quickly, a tiger can assimilate new information . . . ascribe it to a source, and even a motive, and react accordingly” [p. 136]. In what ways does the tiger that kills Markov engage in abstract thinking?

4. Does Markov deserve the fate that befalls him? Is it fair to say that he brought on his own death by stealing the tiger’s kill or by shooting at the tiger?

5. What kind of man is Yuri Trush? In what ways is he both fierce and thoughtful, authoritarian and at the same time sensitive to the desperation that makes people of the Primorye break the law? How does his experience with the tiger change him?

6. Vaillant attributes the attitude of entitlement of Russian homesteaders, at least in part, to biblical injunctions: “1: Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.  2: And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth . . . . 3: Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” [p. 150]. What are the consequences of this way of viewing our relationship to the earth and other animals?

7. Chapter 18 begins with a epigraph from Moby-Dick. What are the parallels between Trush’s hunt for the tiger and Ahab’s pursuit of the whale and between the behavior of the tiger and that the whale in these stories?

8. After he helps to kill the tiger, native people tell Trush he’s now marked by it, that he now bears, as Vaillant puts it, “some ineffable taint, discernible only to tigers” [p. 290]. When an otherwise tame and placid tiger tries to attack him at a wildlife rehabilitation center, Trush wonders if “some sort of a bio field exists . . . . Maybe tigers can feel some connection through the cosmos, or have some common language. I don’t know. I can’t explain it” [p. 291]. Is this merely a fanciful conjecture, or could it be true that tigers can sense the presence of someone who has killed one of their kind? If true, how would it change our views of animal consciousness?

9. Vaillant suggests that, like captive tigers, most of us “live how and where we do because, at some point in the recent past, we were forced out of our former habitats and ways of living by more aggressive, if not better adapted, humans. Worth asking here is: Where does this trend ultimately lead? Is there a better way to honor the fact that we survived?” [p. 298]. How might these questions be answered?

10. Vaillant argues that “by mass-producing food, energy, material goods, and ourselves, we have attempted to secede from, and override, the natural order” [p. 304]. What are the consequences of this desire to separate ourselves from nature?

11. What makes tigers both so frightening and so fascinating? What mythic value do they have for humans? In what ways are they an important part of the ecosystem? 

12. What does the book as a whole suggest about our relationship to nature, particularly to the animals that share the earth with us?

13. It is a precarious time, not just for the Amur tiger, but for all tigers. Poaching and the destruction of tiger habitat pose major challenges to the survival of the species. What would be the significance of the loss of the tiger? What positive steps have been taken to protect it?

14. What changes in human behavior need to happen in order to preserve the (Amur) tiger and similar species? How likely is it that humans will make such changes?

(For a complete list of available reading group guides, and to sign up for the Reading Group Center enewsletter, visit: www.readinggroupcenter.com.)


The introduction, discussion questions, and suggested further reading that follow are designed to enhance your group’s discussion of John Vaillant’s arresting account of the hunt for a man-eating tiger in Russia’s most diverse forest.

4.8 11

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!
Average customer rating 4.8 (11 comments)

`
Lisa van Velsor , March 11, 2012
Argh - this book was...frustrating. The actual story behind the book could have been told in about 50 pages. Hell, it could have been told in a long magazine article. The author adds in a million tangents, all which relate to the subject and are *at times* very interesting, but when I wanted to know WHAT HAPPENED I had to wait until the last ~15 pages of the book. Tangent topics included: Anthropology, shamanism, Russian history, development in China, African tribesman that coexist with big cats, evolution... Again, the tangents were tied to the story but sometimes tenuously. You know those NY Times commercials where they talk about how the NYT really "gets inside the story," i.e., gives you context? This book has got context in SPADES. Another pet peeve: multiple misuses of the word "literally."

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hovlanddb , January 19, 2012
The Tiger, simply put, is a great story told very well. The author opens the book in such a manner that hooks you from the beginning and never backs off. The book is a blend of adventure story, police procedural, history/biology text, mystery, and environmental awareness manual. That being said, the author manages to meld the true story into one that reads like fiction. I have read many excellent books this past year, several of which have been voted for, but none of them have entertained, educated, and haunted me like The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant.

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skyalive1976 , January 05, 2012
A captivating read from beginning to end.

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Hillstar , January 04, 2012
A book that weaves together conservation issues and natural history with human history and sociology into a well written and fascinating story.

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Michael Zawoyski , January 02, 2012
This is a great adventure story and philisophical tome wrapped in one... By far the best book I have read this year, fivtion , non-fiction or poetry. The book gives such respect for the Tiger I found myself enthralled in the story of the big cats. I am tempted to read it again as it may be the best book I read in 2012 also...

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drosen , January 01, 2012
Incredibly interesting read. The individual story is compelling and the broader description of both the Tiger and post-soviet Siberia is absolutely fascinating.

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salemreader , January 01, 2012 (view all comments by salemreader)
Brilliantly researched and beautifully written creative nonfiction. Unforgettable descriptions of people and their relationship with tigers in far-eastern Russia.

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Scooby , September 20, 2011
This is not just a fascinating tale of men hunting tigers - and tigers hunting men. You will learn the history of a not-too-well-known part of Russia and the people who live and work there. And, if you believe that your pet dog or cat talks to you and that they are very capable of certain emotions and actions (e.g., pouting if unhappy and wreaking revenge in some way), you will find stories here that document this kind of animal behavior. Don't miss it!

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TE Peters , September 01, 2011 (view all comments by TE Peters)
Usually I read swashbuckling tales of adventure, but I also really like non-fiction. What a treat to find both in one book. Part murder mystery, part natural history, part sociological analysis, part legend and part real-life drama, this book is gripping. It takes you to a far part of the world, the Amur Valley in eastern Russia, and leaves you with a better understanding of the threats this amazing tiger is up against and the tenuous line humans walk when they live with tigers. I highly recommend this true story to anyone who is curious about survival, of tigers or of humans, in harsh environments.

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cather_wood , June 01, 2011
This was one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. I was truly sorry when it ended, I was left craving more information on the Siberian people and the tiger. The book itself reads like a fiction thriller, but it's non-fiction and actually happened less than ten years ago.

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Rachel Coker , February 24, 2011 (view all comments by Rachel Coker)
This is quite simply one of the best works of non-fiction I've read in a while. John Vaillant weaves in details about Soviet and Russian history and politics, Far East geography and plenty of ecological insight. He never takes his eyes off the compelling narrative at the heart of the story, though, and that's what makes this book read like a novel. The names of Russian people and places might occasionally blur in your mind, but the key facts of the man-eating tiger and the race to subdue him will be seared into your imagination.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780307389046
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
05/03/2011
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Series info:
Vintage Departures
Pages:
329
Height:
.80IN
Width:
5.27IN
Thickness:
1.00
Illustration:
Yes
Author:
John Vaillant
Author:
Rick Bass
Author:
Vaillant
Author:
John
Author:
John Vaillant
Subject:
Animals
Subject:
General-General

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