Tiger Wallahs: Encounters with the Men Who Tried to Save the Greatest of the Great Cats

Ten years ago, historian Ward ( Before the Trumpet ) returned to India where he had lived as a teenager. He was stunned by the diminished wildlife, particularly the dwindling tiger population and their shrinking forest habitat. Ward gives a vivid, lavishly illustrated portrait of hunting by rajahs and the British from 1800 to 1900, a period, he notes, during which as many as 100,000 tigers were killed. Among the men who have fought to preserve the tiger, we meet the legendary Jim Corbett, who destroyed mankilling tigers and later became a conservationist; Billy Arjan Singh, a farmer who created a national park, Tiger Haven; Fateh Singh Rathore, Project Tiger's most successful field director, and his disciple Valmik Thapar. Ward gives a highly personal account of visiting the parks and talking to Singh, Rathore and Thapar. He suggests that population pressures and loss of habitat may be so great that the tiger may not be saved. (Nov.)