The End of the Game: The Last Word from Paradise

A landmark book on Africa revisited

The origins, history, and prospects of big game in Africa

The contributing author:
Paul Theroux went to Africa as a teacher in 1963. He ran a school in Malawi, and then taught at Makerere University in Uganda, where he also worked as a journalist, traveling throughout East and Central Africa. He published three novels with African settings – Fong and the Indians, Girls at Play, and Jungle Lovers, as well as short stories. He is the author of many other novels and travel books, including Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town (2002).


The editor and author:
Born in New York City in 1938, Peter Beard began taking photographs and keeping diaries from early childhood. By the time he graduated from Yale University, he had developed a keen interest in Africa. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s he worked in Tsavo Park, the Aberdares, and Lake Rudolf in Kenya’s northern frontier. His first show came in 1975 at the Blum Helman Gallery, and was followed in 1977 by the landmark installation of elephant carcasses, burned diaries, taxidermy, African artifacts, books and personal memorabilia at New York’s International Center for Photography. In addition to creating original artwork, Beard has also worked as a Vogue photographer and collaborated on projects with Andy Warhol, Andrew Wyeth, Richard Linder, Terry Southern, Truman Capote, and Francis Bacon. In 1996, shortly after Beard was trampled by an elephant, his first major retrospective took place at the Centre National de la Photographie in Paris, France, followed by shows in Berlin, London, Milan, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Vienna, among others. He lives in New York City, Long Island, and Kenya with his wife, Nejma, and daughter, Zara.