Product details
Product name: Harpoon: Into the Heart of Whaling
Reviewer: Rosaleen Love
Author: Andrew Darby
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Price: $29.95
Size: 296 PAGES
G Rating:
Part memoir, part science, part political analysis, Harpoon is a disturbingly detailed account of the savage history of whaling.
Andrew Darby brings his expertise as conservationist, whale-watcher and journalist to his impassioned analysis of everything that's wrong with human-whale relationships.
He details the cruel exploitation, the political machinations, the pseudo-scientific justifications, and the economic pressures behind the resurgence in whaling today.
The book is more than powerful exposé.
Darby writes lyrically about his personal encounters with whales.
He strives to understand what inspires whalers, psychologically, to the thrill of the chase, and how they appear indifferent to the suffering they cause.
Harpoon is divided into five parts, each dealing with a particular species: Right, Blue, Sperm, Minke and Humpback.
Illustrator Uko Gortner draws each whale beside a human figure, drawn to scale.
Harpoon is one of the best books going on both the natural history of whales and the human history of whaling.
