Our next event is on Tuesday 7 September at 7pm:

Lawrence K. Pettit

reading & signing his memoir

If You Live by the Sword: Politics in the Making & Unmaking of a University President

Book of the Week #16

Book of the Week - A New Feature Updated Every Friday to Highlight a Book We’re Excited About

    

 

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

by John Vaillant

(Knopf; $26.95 hardcover; 352 pages )

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“THE TIGER is like JAWS but with tigers…and true!”

— John Page, President ABA

“The Tiger is the sort of book I very much like and rarely find… A book not only for adventure buffs, but for all of us interested in wildlife habitat preservation.”

— Annie Proulx

“This book must be read by everybody who is interested in the conservation of wildlife.”

— Temple Grandin, Animals Make Us Human

“. . . suspenseful and majestically narrated.  Vaillant has written a mighty elegy. . .”

— Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)

“It’s a travelogue, a natural history, the forensic unravelling of a murder scene and a jaw-dropping portrait of post-communist rural life. . . . It reads like a sci-fi novel set in a lost dystopia and yet it is the moving, enthralling portrait of some courageous, real Russians.”

— Bookseller – UK (Bookseller’s Choice)

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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 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.

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About the author:

John Vaillant has written for The New Yorker, the Atlantic, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, and Men’s Journal, among others. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Golden Spruce is his first book.

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More Links and Reviews:

- Publisher’s Weekly interview with John Vaillant

- The Tiger homepage

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The Country Bookshelf is an independent bookstore in Bozeman, Montana.  We have a wide range of new fiction and nonfiction, and we can special order just about any book and even have it shipped to you.  Call, email, or drop in to experience our knowledgeable staff and exceptional customer service.

The Country Bookshelf was established in 1957, making it one of the oldest as well as the largest independent bookstore in Montana. Mary Jane DiSanti bought the store in 1974, and in 1985 moved it to its present location in historic downtown Bozeman. We offer a huge selection of books including thousands of quality children’s books, Montana and Western history, travel, cookbooks, natural history, home and interior design, literature, and all kinds of nonfiction. Every book is hand-chosen by our staff with our customers in mind.

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