There are no more than a few thousand tigers surviving in pockets of Asia. The largest of these, the Siberian tiger, is today almost entirely confined to the little-populated Russian Far East. Now these are under threat due to the intensified poaching and the destruction of habitat that has followed upon the collapse of the USSR. Peter Matthiessen brings to the Siberian tiger a deep knowledge of and feeling for the natural world. He tells the story of the species' origin and evolution, evoking as well its crucial role in the culture and mythology of the peoples who came into contact with it.