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Human-Animal Studies #9
Paper Tiger: How Pictures Shaped the Thylacine
This is an exciting new history of the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, that draws us closer to the animals who served as models for illustrations. It takes the reader on a journey behind artists' brushstrokes and photographers' lenses into the world of science, printing processes, publishing entrepreneurs, circulating libraries and bounties and reveals how inaccurate published images were... and how profoundly they affected attitudes toward living thylacines. Written with sensitivity and an eye for detail, the book uncovers forgotten drawings and lost photographs from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, telling a story full of mystery and revelations. It demonstrates how pictures and words have a vital influence on a species' survival. As the rate of extinctions escalates, we are also reminded that sympathetic pictures have the power to provide hope for endangered animals. This book is a compelling story for anyone interested in history and images or concerned about the natural environment, animal extinctions or conservation issues. It also provides a visual resource for art gallery and museum curators, print collectors and zoologists.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Carol Freeman
7 booksCarol Freeman is a writer and Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania. Carol grew up in Warrnambool, a town on the wild southern coast of Australia. In Hobart she has had a long association with the University of Tasmania. She has written academic papers, essays and articles for a wide range of publications—from edited books to exhibition catalogues—and solely compiled and edited the Australian Animal Studies News Bulletin, a quarterly e-publication that is sent to hundreds of readers around the world and posted on animal studies websites and discussion lists, from 2008 to 2014.
She lives in Hobart with her husband Tony and a cat called Jakarta Tomcat (Jack). Her work focuses on representations of extinct and threatened species, ethics in human-animal relations and visualisations of animals in popular culture and wildlife documentaries.
She lives in Hobart with her husband Tony and a cat called Jakarta Tomcat (Jack). Her work focuses on representations of extinct and threatened species, ethics in human-animal relations and visualisations of animals in popular culture and wildlife documentaries.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 4, 2017
I do love the images in this book but then. I love everything about the Thylacine. There are poignant, heart-breaking and beautiful illustrations and photographs in here. The text is a bit dry and repetitive in parts. I must admit it was a struggle to get through at times. It is however, an essential part of my Thylacine book collection.
February 21, 2015
“This book is a remarkable achievement. Freeman tells the story of the thylacine in an original and deeply affecting way. We learn about the animals . . . and the ravaging impact that human ideas had upon them. Freeman writes thoughtfully, carefully, and with force, and the book is a very good read.”
Nigel Rothfels University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
“By focusing on the ways in which the species was portrayed visually, Carol Freeman’s Paper Tiger adds a compelling and fruitful new dimension to this tragic tale. Freeman’s book reminds us how important images are in shaping our thoughts and feelings about nonhuman creatures”
Mark V. Barrow Professor and Chair of the History Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
“This book… provides a scholarly yet very readable account of a very great loss, the extinction of the Thylacine . . . [and] has what it takes to become a classic text. Freeman’s study makes a valuable and timely contribution to the question of how we are going to come to terms with our role in the burgeoning global problem of mass species extinctions.”
Linda Williams Associate Professor in Art, Environment and Cultural Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
“As an animal lover, I found Paper Tiger one of the saddest books I've read. I had mistakenly thought that the Thylacine's extinction was a tragic accident, when in fact it was a malicious thing, a result of deliberate efforts bent on its extermination.”
Jonathan Balcombe, author of Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals and The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure
Nigel Rothfels University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
“By focusing on the ways in which the species was portrayed visually, Carol Freeman’s Paper Tiger adds a compelling and fruitful new dimension to this tragic tale. Freeman’s book reminds us how important images are in shaping our thoughts and feelings about nonhuman creatures”
Mark V. Barrow Professor and Chair of the History Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
“This book… provides a scholarly yet very readable account of a very great loss, the extinction of the Thylacine . . . [and] has what it takes to become a classic text. Freeman’s study makes a valuable and timely contribution to the question of how we are going to come to terms with our role in the burgeoning global problem of mass species extinctions.”
Linda Williams Associate Professor in Art, Environment and Cultural Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
“As an animal lover, I found Paper Tiger one of the saddest books I've read. I had mistakenly thought that the Thylacine's extinction was a tragic accident, when in fact it was a malicious thing, a result of deliberate efforts bent on its extermination.”
Jonathan Balcombe, author of Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals and The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews