Table of Contents

Chapter One: From the bridge of a whaling ship. Whaling now. Minke whales are shot in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and the Antarctic. Other species also die on harpoons in the North Pacific and North Atlantic. The people who hunt, and their stories.

Chapter Two: Whales now. What we know of these animals. How they do what they do. Extraordinary beings or dumb ox? The scientists who know them. What others believe. Whales as characters in a narrative. The largest animal ever: Learning about the blues.

Chapter Three: Man's long pursuit of the whale, and how the industrial revolution almost eliminated the leviathan. The true cultural history, and the people who once whaled.

Chapter Four: Learning the limits to growth. The crash of whale numbers forces the first post World War II international conservation agreement. The early years of the International Whaling Commission.

Chapter Five: Blind trickery. Japan's post-war taste for whale flesh, and how it was

Promotional Information

Includes up to the minute coverage of recent dramatic developments in whaling Covers the history and future of international whaling Tells the stories of every species of whale that have been hunted to near extinction as well as the latest science on the lives of whales Author is a reporter on environmental issues and Antarctica for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald; he frequently attends IWC meetings No journalist anywhere is closer to the politics of whaling - for fifteen years he has travelled the world investigating the story Includes Japanese whalers' own stories.

About the Author

Andrew Darby is a Fairfax journalist who writes for both the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He lives in Tasmania.

Reviews

"Science Books & Films", October 2008
"A very thorough study...Its style is very readable, and it makes a good story." "Choice", December 08
"[A] disturbing, dramatic, richly researched book...Darby describes in sharp detail the story of this ongoing conflict...Highly recommended. All readers, especially students of international law, whale watchers, and concerned citizens."

"Earth Island Journal", April 2010
"Andrew Darby is one of the world's best-informed journalists when it comes to whaling issues...[He] has created a niche for himself by following the meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) year after year. In his new(ish) book, "Harpoon", he shows off his expertise as he uncovers the full dysfunction of this odd global institution...Darby tells his tale with passion and verve."

"Science Books & Films," October 2008
"A very thorough study...Its style is very readable, and it makes a good story." "Choice," December 08
"[A] disturbing, dramatic, richly researched book...Darby describes in sharp detail the story of this ongoing conflict...Highly recommended. All readers, especially students of international law, whale watchers, and concerned citizens."

"Science Books & Films," October 2008
"A very thorough study...Its style is very readable, and it makes a good story."

"Science," 10/24/08
"Gives readers the sense of being let in on a secret world of high-stakes conservation politics being played out through international diplomacy...[Darby's] vivid descriptions make palpable, even for the most dispassionate reader, the hard-heartedness of whaling."

"Bloomberg News," 5/29/08
"Shows how modern technology has stripped every trace of heroism from the business of hunting the world's largest mammals...Shows that the debate over hunting the leviathans of the deep is far from over."Blogcritics.org, 5/29/08
"Enlightening and entertaining...Darby's book is important because, along with its mother-lode of information on various kinds of whales, it is both lament and warning...Is "Harpoon" yet another cautionary tale of man's abuse and cruelty to animals? Yes, it is. Do we need yet another one of those? Yes, we do. Andrew Darby, free of polemic, has done us all a great service, and it's best we listen now before it's too late...I urge you to read Darby's book. It will tell you a lot about whales but--and this may be what makes it stand out--also a lot about you and your international neighbors and how we've allowed our collective hubris to attempt to diminish the great whales of the world's great oceans...[Darby] offers up a significant contribution to the whale as mystery and marvel, while sounding a measured, but plaintive, alarm for dangers that may lie in the path of so magisterial an animal."


"Magill Book Reviews"
"A cautionary study...of how commercial overexploitation has devastated both whales and whaling."

"Science Communications"
"Provide[s] compelling insights into the animals, the policy makers, the fishers, and those who scramble to protect the species."

PopMatters.com
"Darby's experience as a reporter is visible in his writing. The text is analytical yet clear, packed with valuable supporting quotes from authorities in every area. From international diplomats to whalers themselves, Darby has sought the right people to speak with...As well as being a wonderful and comprehensive analysis of whaling from its inception to the present, the text can be regarded as a parable of people's inability to respond to environmental crises as they unfold."

PublishersWeekly.com "Web Pick of the Week," 6/16/08
"A definitive work on the past and the present of whaling...Heartbreaking accounts of the killing make this excellent book a difficult read...One hopes his exceptional history will act as a bulwark."

"Library Journal
"Provides an excellent portrait of the whales themselves, historical whaling procedures, the current high-tech methods of the "scientific" factory-ship whalers, and the efforts of groups such as Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Society to interfere with the hunt. Readers of Peter Heller's "The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World To Save the Planet's Largest Mammals" would be well advised to read "Harpoon" to get a broader perspective on the issues. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries, especially those that bought "Leviathan,"""The Economist" 5/08/08
"[An] entertaining and interesting book...Throughout the book, Mr Darby sketches the extraordinary characters he encounters with humour as dry as his native outback...Mr Darby takes the reader deep into the whaling issue."

"Science Books & Films", October 2008
"A very thorough study...Its style is very readable, and it makes a good story."

"Choice", December 08
"[A] disturbing, dramatic, richly researched book...Darby describes in sharp detail the story of this ongoing conflict...Highly recommended. All readers, especially students of international law, whale watchers, and concerned citizens."

"Earth Island Journal", April 2010
"Andrew Darby is one of the world's best-informed journalists when it comes to whaling issues...[He] has created a niche for himself by following the meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) year after year. In his new(ish) book, "Harpoon", he shows off his expertise as he uncovers the full dysfunction of this odd global institution...Darby tells his tale with passion and verve."

"Science Books & Films," October 2008
"A very thorough study...Its style is very readable, and it makes a good story."

"Choice," December 08
"[A] disturbing, dramatic, richly researched book...Darby describes in sharp detail the story of this ongoing conflict...Highly recommended. All readers, especially students of international law, whale watchers, and concerned citizens."

"Science Books & Films," October 2008
"A very thorough study...Its style is very readable, and it makes a good story."
"Science," 10/24/08
"Gives readers the sense of being let in on a secret world of high-stakes conservation politics being played out through international diplomacy...[Darby's] vivid descriptions make palpable, even for the most dispassionate reader, the hard-heartedness of whaling."
"Bloomberg News," 5/29/08
"Shows how modern technology has stripped every trace of heroism from the business of hunting the world's largest mammals...Shows that the debate over hunting the leviathans of the deep is far from over."

Blogcritics.org, 5/29/08
"Enlightening and entertaining...Darby's book is important because, along with its mother-lode of information on various kinds of whales, it is both lament and warning...Is "Harpoon" yet another cautionary tale of man's abuse and cruelty to animals? Yes, it is. Do we need yet another one of those? Yes, we do. Andrew Darby, free of polemic, has done us all a great service, and it's best we listen now before it's too late...I urge you to read Darby's book. It will tell you a lot about whales but--and this may be what makes it stand out--also a lot about you and your international neighbors and how we've allowed our collective hubris to attempt to diminish the great whales of the world's great oceans...[Darby] offers up a significant contribution to the whale as mystery and marvel, while sounding a measured, but plaintive, alarm for dangers that may lie in the path of so magisterial an animal."

"Magill Book Reviews"
"A cautionary study...of how commercial overexploitation has devastated both whales and whaling."
"Science Communications"
"Provide[s] compelling insights into the animals, the policy makers, the fishers, and those who scramble to protect the species."
PopMatters.com
"Darby's experience as a reporter is visible in his writing. The text is analytical yet clear, packed with valuable supporting quotes from authorities in every area. From international diplomats to whalers themselves, Darby has sought the right people to speak with...As well as being a wonderful and comprehensive analysis of whaling from its inception to the present, the text can be regarded as a parable of people's inability to respond to environmental crises as they unfold."
PublishersWeekly.com "Web Pick of the Week," 6/16/08
"A definitive work on the past and the present of whaling...Heartbreaking accounts of the killing make this excellent book a difficult read...One hopes his exceptional history will act as a bulwark."
"Library Journal
"Provides an excellent portrait of the whales themselves, historical whaling procedures, the current high-tech methods of the "scientific" factory-ship whalers, and the efforts of groups such as Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Society to interfere with the hunt. Readers of Peter Heller's "The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World To Save the Planet's Largest Mammals" would be well advised to read "Harpoon" to get a broader perspective on the issues. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries, especially those that bought "Leviathan,""

"The Economist" 5/08/08
"[An] entertaining and interesting book...Throughout the book, Mr Darby sketches the extraordinary characters he encounters with humour as dry as his native outback...Mr Darby takes the reader deep into the whaling issue."