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Book Review
| An Annotated Bibliography of Asian Big Game Hunting Books, 1780–1980. Compiled by Kenneth P. Czech. St. Cloud, Minn.: Land's Edge Press, 2003. xviii + 254 pp. Plates, map, appendix, references, index. Cloth $65.00.
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| Big game hunting has long been a controversial topic. As such, books that extol the hunt and the virtues of the hunter have received little attention from academics or praise from literary critics. Much of the disdain for the hunt and the culture that has grown up around it is due to the explicit relationship between hunting and power. Hunters kill big beautiful animals and trophy hunting, in particular, is a privileged affair. Moreover, as Europe expanded its power across the globe, big game hunting became intimately intertwined with the various expressions of European power. Today, the "Great White Hunter" is one of the main icons of European imperial excess that has been duly vilified in postmodern discourses on race, gender, class, and nature. |
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However, a closer reading of big game hunting literature reveals that the hunting culture was anything but monolithic. Despite the stereotype of trophy hunting as an elite activity, many hunters were humble men, who lived among native populations and endured difficult conditions. They spent their lives pursuing man-eaters and other rogue animals that threatened the lives and livelihoods of rural peoples. Most of these individuals were also harsh critics of elites who shot animals indiscriminately for "sport." Many of these hunters also had a deep reverence for the natural world, which made them some of the earliest and most strident advocates of wildlife conservation. Others were talented writers who not only chronicled their exploits but also discussed their personal struggles in the field. And it is the vicarious quality of the hunting tale that continues to make this literature so popular. Classics and reprints abound in the antiquarian book trade and books are still written about modern-day hunting exploits. |
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However, little is now written on game hunting in Asia, because there is little game left to hunt there. This is tragic and ironic, for Asia had a long history of big game hunting that predates the European imperial experience. In India, in particular, the hunt was an integral part of aristocratic life. But compared to Africa, little is known about the history of Asian big game hunting. As such, this book is a welcome guide to remedy these shortcomings. It is the most complete resource on the subject, with some 250 entries and sixteen color plates that depict the original book covers, which are themselves splendid works of art. Many of these books are rare or were privately published and are thus unknown even to experts in the field. Although this work is designed for collectors, it is a valuable academic resource. This literature provides some of the best descriptions of a natural and social world that today has largely vanished. It also provides insights into the social and political world occupied by European and native hunters. And it gives the background to the impetus behind the modern conservation movement, which was largely promoted by big game hunters, for selfish and altruistic reasons alike. Because of its many paradoxes and conflicts, the subject of big game hunting is a fertile ground for scholarly research. |
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Reviewed by Tobias J. Lanz, the Department of Political Science, University of South Carolina. |
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