In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
A rare specimen among the many wildlife-related books out there, this gripping first-person reportage from one of the planet's biological hot spots is extremely well written. Bill Weber and Amy Vedder, a husband-and-wife scientific team, spent almost a decade studying endangered mountain gorillas in the Virunga Forest of Rwanda and designing an internationally funded long-term project for their survival. Despite frustrating obstacles (poachers, unhelpful government officials) and difficult work in a cold, damp environment, they considered themselves "among the luckiest people on earth."
Though loosely allied with Dian Fossey, whose story is related in Gorillas in the Mist, Weber and Vedder found it difficult to work with this mercurial and solitary figure. They believe Fossey's work was instrumental in creating a "a global constituency of millions of people who shared her passion for mountain gorillas." But the book also offers a candid perspective on Fossey's erratic behavior and her sometimes misguided efforts. Unlike Fossey and some other biologists, Weber and Vedder believed strongly that protecting gorillas had to involve Rwandans. If the animals became a source of revenue for local people working as tour guides, park guards, and the like, then conservation would win out over razing the gorillas' lush mountain forests for agriculture and ranching. Their Mountain Gorilla Project was one of the first instances of ecotourism.
The book ends with a description of the appalling ethnic genocide that engulfed Rwanda in the 1990s, when Weber and Vedder were back in the U.S. working at New York's Wildlife Conservation Society. Despite a civil war that put severe pressures on the landscape, the gorillas somehow survived -- they were protected by all sides in the conflict, proof that Rwandans had come to view them as essential to their country and its economic future. What raises this book above others of its kind is the fact that the authors also care deeply about the human species. They see the gorillas' survival in the face of so much adversity as a ray of hope for Rwandans struggling to "bring lasting peace to the beautiful land they call home." (Jonathan Cook)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
When Bill Weber and Amy Vedder arrived in Rwanda to study mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey, the gorilla population was teetering toward extinction. Poaching was rampant, but it was loss of habitat that most endangered the gorillas. Weber and Vedder realized that the gorillas were doomed unless something was done to save their forest home. Over Fossey's objections, they helped found the Mountain Gorilla Project, which would inform Rwandans about the gorillas and the importance of conservation, while at the same time establishing an ecotourism project -- one of the first anywhere in a rainforest -- to bring desperately needed revenue to Rwanda.
In the Kingdom of Gorillas introduces readers to entire families of gorillas, from powerful silverback patriarchs to helpless newborn infants. Weber and Vedder take us with them as they slog through the rain-soaked mountain forests, observing the gorillas at rest and at play. Today the population of mountain gorillas is the highest it has been since the 1960s, and there is new hope for the species' fragile future even as the people of Rwanda strive to overcome ethnic and political differences.
FROM THE CRITICS
Jane Goodall
"The pages of this book are filled with heroism, tragedy and joy. . . . I believe In the Kingdom of Gorillas will inspire you to make your own contribution to help these magnificent gorillas and the brave people who work to protect them."
George B. Schaller
"Mountain gorillas owe their survival to a very few innovative and far-sighted individuals. Foremost among these are the authors of In the Kingdom of Gorillas. . . . In eloquent and gripping prose, Bill Weber and Amy Vedder chronicle the compassionate fight on behalf of these our most majestic kin."
Publishers Weekly
Dian Fossey brought world attention to Rwanda's endangered mountain gorillas in 1978, but the animals have survived largely because of the pioneering work of ecologists Weber and Vedder. Realizing that gorilla conservation was not a priority for a country facing staggering economic and development problems, they persuaded skeptical authorities that a program combining research, ecotourism and education could both protect these majestic primates and generate economy-boosting revenues. Their Mountain Gorilla Project, implemented over Fossey's objections, proved successful, with recent gorilla censuses showing dramatic population increases. Weber and Vedder's fascinating account of their years in Rwanda describes thrilling, sometimes heart-breaking gorilla encounters, and analyzes their painful relationships with Fossey with bracing honesty. But the book's larger, and more complex, subject is conservation in a war-ravaged postcolonial world struggling with increased competition for finite resources. Weber and Vedder ably portray Rwandan society, fraught with ethnic divisions and governmental corruption that not only threatened wildlife conservation but imperiled human safety. Their description of the 1994 genocide of Tutsis by Hutus based on reports from friends still in the country at the time is a chilling reminder that humans, too, are a fragile species. "We can't love animals or save wildlife," Weber and Vedder conclude, "without understanding the social, economic, and political context in which conservation occurs." Though they concede that "complete understanding [of a different culture] is a myth," they argue persuasively for continued efforts to this end. Agent, Gloria Loomis. (Oct.4) Forecast: If ever a conservation book gets attention, this will be it. The combination of intimate primate portraits; sociopolitical observation; scientific conflict; successful, sustained activism; and intercultural cooperation, with the help of a four-city tour, will attract readers of many stripes. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Here is the long-awaited update to the fate of mountain gorillas in Rwanda, as written by the married couple who joined Dian Fossey at her Karisoke research facility in the late 1970s. Although Fossey's is the more familiar name owing to her groundbreaking contact with the gorilla and subsequent grief over their deaths because of poaching, Weber and Vedder have ultimately accomplished far more to insure their survival. Unlike Fossey, they believe that the key to saving the gorilla is to create an ecotourism program that will benefit the Rwandan people. Much of the book is a detailed account of both field research and the political challenges of establishing the Mountain Gorilla Project, but the final chapters are devoted to a chilling portrait of mass genocide in the early 1990s. This important book is a case study in how conservation must be grounded in the realities of people: "We can't love animals or save wildlife without understanding the social, economic, and political context in which conservation occurs." Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries. Beth Clewis Crim, Prince William P.L., VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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