Author: Jim Corbett
Valmik Thaper/Billy Arjan Singh
Narrator: Geoffrey C Ward / Diane Raines Ward
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 526
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195659848
Description
The four books in this Omnibus chronicle the struggle to save the Indian tiger, the endangered predator that has always ruled Indian jungles. This evocative selection focuses on both the lives of tigers, and of a few men who have struggled against overwhelming odds to save the species from extinction.
The four books in this Omnibus chronicle the struggle to save the Indian tiger, the endangered predator that has always ruled Indian jungles. This evocative selection focuses on both the lives of tigers, and of a few men who have struggled against overwhelming odds to save the species from extinction.
In the first book ‘Tiger Wallahs: Saving the Greatest of the Great Cats, Geoffrey and Diane Ward introduce some of India’s most remarkable tigerwallahs: Jim Corbett, the great destroyer of man-eaters, who became a still greater conservationist; Billy Arjan Singh, the Spartan farmer who tried to return a tigress to the wild, and, all alone, carved out a national park; Fateh Singh Rathore, the uninhibited Rajput who cheerfully risked his life defending the jungles in his charge; and Valmik Thapar, who began as Fateh’s disciple, and who is now an authority in his own right, championing a new kind of conservation that may provide the tiger’s only hope.
Jim Corbett’s books on man-eating tigers are not only established classics, but they almost comprise a separate literary category by themselves. Among the best known of Colonel Corbett’s books, ‘Man-Eaters of Kumaon’ contains ten fascinating stories tracking and shooting man-eaters in the Indian Himalayas during the early years of the last century. The stories also contain incidental information on flora, fauna and village life, making this book delightful reading.
‘Tiger Haven’ is an autobiographical account of the struggle on one man, Billy Arjan Singh, to protect Indian wildlife in a small area in the Himalayan foothills. Tiger Haven shelters one of the last remaining large herds of swampdeer in the world, and it is here that Billy Arjan Singh has closely studied the chital, sambhar, leopard, marsh crocodile, hogdeer, and, above all, the tiger. Singh’s account of his life at Tiger Haven re-endorses the claim that perhaps no other human being has lived in closer harmony with nature that this solitary naturalist.
Tigers have tended to live secret, nocturnal lives making human observation of their habits extremely difficult. However, in ‘The Secret Life of Tigers’, Valmik Thapar documents the family life of three tigresses and their cubs at every stage of the cubs’ development, from soon after birth to adulthood. He has made some extraordinary discoveries about the lives of tigers, including the role of the male tigers as a father, which has been recorded for the very first time.
Written in a wonderfully lucid, story-telling style, some of these books also include outstanding color plates and illustrations. The Omnibus will enthrall both wildlife lovers and those interested in wildlife conservation.
REVIEWS:
SAVING THE GREATEST OF THE GREAT CATS
Both Geoffrey and Diane Ward. . . . Bring this chronicle alive through description, anecdotes, dialogue and character depiction. . . The characters come alive and you feel you are going along for the ride with the authors.
—Indian Review of Books
MAN-EATERS OF KUMAON
. . .an exceptionally good writer, clear and lucid and (with) tales to narrate that were, in a word, extraordinary. . . I am glad I did re-read the book, for few books stand up so well to the passage of time.
—David Davidar, The Hindu
THE SECRET LIFE OF TIGERS
. . . A wonderful collection of wildlife anecdotes, first-hand experiences of the wild and a loving portrayal of life hitherto hidden from the tourist’s eyes.
—The Pioneer
. . . (the book) fills a major void in tiger lore. . .Mr Thapar, in a period of observation lasting over a decade, has created an entirely new ‘science’
—Indian Review of Books
TIGER HAVEN
. . .the portrayals are sensitive and detailed, the style revealing the deep love the author has for all the citizens of the jungle . . .the self-effacing style, the sheer richness of experience and literary expression set it apart.
—Indian Review of Books
Contents
Illustrations
Return Passage
A Tigercidal Thirst
The Large-hearted Gentleman
The Presiding Deity
No Axe Falls
The Rajput
Stress of Circumstances
Besieged
Massacre
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Bibliography