The Tiger's Destiny

Offers a pictorial profile of the endangered tiger, discussing the animal's history, the danger it faces from human encroachment and predation, and its future

Thapar discusses the importance of the tiger in the Asian and Indian cultures and the fate that awaits it in a world that no longer worships it and can barely manage to feed it. The first third of the book is devoted to the integral role the tiger played in Asia and India before the arrival of Europeans, when the tiger was accorded godlike status. (The last third of the book, however, shows that with the advent of Europeans, the relationship between tiger and human changed forever.) The second section would be worth the purchase price even if it were published without text. Beautiful full-page and half-page full-color photographs of the tigers in India's Ranthambhore National Park depict the lives of tigers in the wild. From a photograph of a female and her cubs to pictures of tigers who have been forced to a nocturnal life in their quest for survival, these pictures say more about the daily lives of tigers than any textbook or environmental-awareness pamphlet could ever communicate. Caroline Paulison