Thursday, September 4, 2008

Review - Bookseller & Publisher

Bookseller & Publisher Magazine in its September 2008 edition wrote: "The Last Whale is a lively account of the protest action that brought an end to whaling in Australia in the 1970s."

Freelance reviewer Sally Denmead said: "Pash should be commended for his objective and balanced approach, devoting just as much time to the stories of individual whalers and what the industry meant to them and the town of Albany, as he does to the activists."

In a separate interview in the same magazine, Chris Pash said: "I enjoy equally the company of the whalers and the anti-whaling activists. I went out with the whalers twice, both times catching sperm whales. I feel close to them and somewhere along the line I took on the responsibility to tell their story fairly and accurately, to be a champion, to explain their lives honestly but not to be an apologist."

On the anti-whaling activisits of 1977, Pash said: " They were crazy, but somehow magical, to throw themselves in front of an explosive head harpoon. There’s a part in all of us that longs
to take action, tilt at windmills, right wrongs, take a final stand. Stuff it, let’s do it. But few act
on that longing. So, why did these people? The Last Whale seeks answers."

Steve Shallhorn, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, says The Last Whale is "... an important contribution to Australian history and to the protection of whales... it chronicles the people and events which created Greenpeace in Australia and ... seeks to understand the minds and thinking of those who hunted whales in Australia."

The Last Whale, will be launched in Albany, Western Australia, on September 20, 2008, by Steve Shallhorn at Albany, Western Australia, the site of Australia's last whaling station, during the Sprung Writers Festival. The Last Whale will be in bookstores from October 1.

Greenpeace supporters are being offered an exclusive early release copy of The Last Whale, with proceeds going to Greenpeace’s ongoing work.

See The Last Whale video here