About the Author

John Vaillant is also the author of "The Golden Spruce." He has written for" The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Outside, National Geographic, "and" Men's Journal, " among others. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and children.

Reviews

"A masterpiece of reconstructed reportage . . . What elevates The Tiger from adventure yarn to nonfiction classic is Vaillant's mastery of language. Every now and then he drops in a paragraph-length essay that stands alone like a polished gem. His riff on the "unintended courtesy" of wildlife paths in snow is the kind of insight Terry Tempest Williams might weave an entire book around."
--"Outside"
""The Tiger" is the sort of book I very much like and rarely find. Humans are hard-wired 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. I was startled to learn about the "zapovedniks" and Russia's primary place in global conservation. This is a book not only for adventure buffs, but for all of us interested in wildlife habitat preservation."
--Annie Proulx
"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"
"A remarkable and thoughtful account of a distant place where man and animal meet with fatal consequences."
--"Richmond Times Dispatch"
"[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"
"By all means read Vaillant's magnificent book . . . ["The Tiger"] offers readers a shiver-inducing portrait of a predator that has been revered--and feared--like no other animal . . . A profound examination of the myriad factors that threaten the animal's continued existence in the world . . . The final pageso