"Save the Whales" has become a popular cry in recent years, but the threat to their survival is no modern phenomenon. The near extinction of species after species is a recurring theme in the history of whaling, with the whalers being forced by scarcity of prey to hunt new areas of different types of whale. In fact, the present situation can only be fully understood in the historical context, as set out in this eminently readable account. The book follows the fortunes not only of the whales, but also of the many nations that have hunted them -- from the primitive methods of the Norsemen or the American Indians to the modern factory mechanization of the Japanese and Russians. The several hundred illustrations are as wide ranging as the narrative: medeival misconceptions of the whales' anatomy; early engravings, painting, and photos of the ships; the men; and the whole gory process of reducing the whale -- in short, every aspect of a centuries-old porfession that, like its prey, may soon become extinct. Hardbound, 192 pages. Out of print, but we generally have several copies available for $30 (or less, depending on condition).