Woman in the Mists
by Farley Mowat
List Price:
Our Price: $9.77
You Save: $10.22 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Farley MowatEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1988-11-01
ISBN: 0446387207
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780446387200
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Woman in the Mists
Book Review: "A woman who gave herself completely to those she loved."
Summary: 5 Stars
When it came to dealing with people, Dian Fossey was sometimes her own worst enemy, but her dedication to saving the African mountain gorilla and its habitat in Rwanda is indisputable. Describing himself as an "editorial collaborator," rather than as a biographer, Farley Mowat assembles Fossey's story from her never-before-printed journals and private papers, inserting them directly into the book in boldface so she can tell her own story. From her founding of the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda in 1967, until her murder there in December, 1985, Fossey battled to save "those she loved" from poaching, abduction, and dismemberment.
Throughout her eighteen years at Karisoke, Fossey studied organized groups of gorillas to whom she became so familiar that they would even touch her. As fierce and protective of her own "turf" as a silverback, however, she refused to bend to the exigencies of the political climate and funding requirements and made innumerable enemies. When local herdsmen exerted their age-old rights to graze cattle on "her" mountain, Fossey shot the cattle. When poachers hurt her gorillas, she pursued them, even kidnapping the four-year-old son of one of them to force his surrender. When students at her own Center disagreed with her, she could be brutal.
Fossey also fought local officials, park guards, and conservators who took bribes and staged events in order to protect their payoffs. She battled conservation organizations which wanted to get her funds, rival researchers who wanted to take over her project, and governmental officials who saw tourism in the park as a source of wealth and graft. Always fighting with ferocity, she made no effort to see another point of view or compromise. Her unsolved murder in 1985, by someone who knew the layout of her cabin, could have been by someone from any of these alienated groups.
Mowat presents Fossey as a lonely warrior who never found personal peace, a woman who was instrumental in drawing pubic attention to the plight of the mountain gorilla but who was less sucessful than she had hoped. As he points out in his Epilogue, her cause has been continued by some of the researchers who studied with her. Two of those, Amy Vedder and Bill Weber, continue the story of the gorillas from the death of Fossey through 1993's disastrous Rwandan Civil War. Their book, In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land, reflects a more conciliatory viewpoint than that of Fossey. Mary Whipple
Scientists Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Scientists Books
Measure for Measure: A Musical History of Scienceby Thomas Levenson
Oxford Univ Pr (Txt); Published: 1997-10; Hardcover; Book
The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plantsby Jane S. Smith
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2010-02-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.46
Price in other shops:
Don't You Have Time to Thinkby Richard P Feynman
Penguin; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Science at the Extreme: Scientists on the Cutting Edge of Discoveryby Peter Lane Taylor
McGraw-Hill Companies; Published: 2000-08-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.15
Price in other shops:
Enigmas of Chance: An Autobiography (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation series)by Mark Kac
Harpercollins; Published: 1985-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $125.00
Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earthby Andrew Smith
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-08-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.60
Price in other shops:
Alfred Tarski: Life and Logic (Cambridge Concise Histories)by Anita Burdman Feferman, Solomon Feferman
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2008-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.97
Price in other shops:
The Beat of a Different Drum: The Life and Science of Richard Feynmanby Jagdish Mehra
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1994-03-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $157.74
For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronautby Scott Carpenter, Kris Stoever
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2003-01-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.18
Price in other shops:
Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mirby Jerry M. Linenger
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2000-12-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Born Naked: The Early Adventures of the Author of Never Cry Wolfby Farley Mowat
Mariner Books; Published: 1995-03-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.05
Price in other shops:
Mountain Gorilla (IMAX)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2002-10-08; DVD
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops:
Owls in the Familyby Farley Mowat
Yearling; Published: 1996-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.44
Price in other shops:
The Dog Who Wouldn't Beby Farley Mowat
Bantam Books; Published: 1984-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.26
Price in other shops:
My Life with the Chimpanzeesby Jane Goodall
Aladdin; Published: 1996-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.34
Price in other shops:
The Boat Who Wouldn't Floatby Farley Mowat
Starfire; Published: 1984-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.59
Price in other shops:
Light Shining Through the Mist: A Photobiography of Dian Fossey (Photobiographies)by Tom Mathews
National Geographic Children's Books; Published: 1998-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.35
Price in other shops:
Gorillas in the MistUniversal; Release date: 1999-01-01; DVD
Best price: $7.06
Price in other shops:
No One Loved Gorillas More: Dian Fossey: Letters from the Mistby Camilla de la Bedoyere, Bob Campbell, Dian Fossey
National Geographic; Published: 2005-04-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.75
Price in other shops:
Gorillas in the Mistby Dian Fossey Dr.
Mariner Books; Published: 2000-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops: