Geoffrey C. Ward

Ward tells the story of the wild tigress Sita and the challenges she faces in rearing her cubs. He describes current conservation efforts to protect tigers against diminishing habitats and food sources and the battle against illegal trade in tiger bones and other body parts for manufacturers of traditional Chinese medicine.

The Year of the Tiger features remarkable, unprecedented photographs of tigers' daily reality in the wild, but it also contains such images as a desperately anxious tiger behind bars, a discomforting reminder of the fearsome and powerful animal's vulnerability to exploitation by humans.

Ward co-wrote Tiger-Wallahs: Encounters with the Men Who Tried to Save the Greatest of the Cats, published in 1993. He brings his passionate curiosity to a wide range of other topics as well. Among his many books and magazine articles is A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Biography in 1990.

His work includes several PBS films by Ken Burns. He served as principal writer for The Civil War and Baseball, and wrote the companion books for each. He wrote Frank Lloyd Wright, a Ken Burns/Lynn Novick film, and is currently working with Burns on Jazz, a 12-hour series scheduled for PBS broadcast in autumn 2000.

Geoffrey C. Ward was a guest on GORP's forum from Dec. 4 through Dec. 23, 1998. Read an excerpt from The Year of the Tiger, featuring Nichols' photographs. Read Ward's answers to questions about his experiences studying the big cats, and about the measures necessary to protect them from extinction. Find out what it's like to get really close to these stealthy and beautiful animals.

Special thanks to Nina Rao of Rare Earth Explorations for arranging Geoff's appearance.

Book Written By Geoffrey C. Ward & Michael Nichols: The Year of the Tiger is available from the Adventurous Traveler Bookstore. Click here to order!

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