The Lady and the Panda is the story of love and greed - love between the Lady, Ruth Harkness, and the panda and the greed of the rest of the world. Harkness was an unlikely adventuress whose goal, contrary to the norms of the times, was to bring back a live panda. Her reasons and actions were sometimes questionable, but the end result has been the saving of a magnificent animal and a wonderful environment, which is probably home to many more plants and animals that have in the mean time also been protected.

Vicki Croke has crafted an engaging read here. The prose is fluid and paints a vivid picture of Harkness, Western China in the 1930s, and greed for money and fame that surrounded the capture of the first live giant panda. She document's Harkness's struggles with depression, spirituality, alcoholism, and lust while still portraying a very unique and inspiring person. This book is well worth reading for those interested in either travel and wildlife preservation.

I loved this book! Adventure, history, romance, and the story of a
woman who was 70 years ahead of our own conservation movement. I had
heard of Ruth Harkness from George Schaller's book "The Last Panda," and
from a World Wildlife Fund web page, but the details of this
action-packed story blew me away. No wonder this book got the reviews it
did. Superbly written and a page-turner to boot.

I found it hard to put this book down. Ruth Harkness, who was rich in bravado and adventure, stood out like no other woman in her time. When I finished, it did indeed feel like a great adventure had come to an end.

If you want to read a hack writer glorifying a selfish, unscrupulous "explorer" who bankrolls the indiscriminate slaughter of pandas by hirelings while she lolls about in silks in a palace smoking opium, this is the book for you. Ruth Harkness was a vile, unprincipled woman of privilege who lied, drank, and fornicated her way into history by returning the first captured panda to the United States--after cutting a deal involving the shooting of other pandas--then spent months trying to sell it to the highest bidder. As soon as she did, she returned to China to wreak more death and mistreatment upon the species.

Most of the reviewers here must have skipped over the scenes where these woeful victims are abused, mistreated, and left to die by Harkness when another, more promising animal comes along. Actually, this is not surprising, because no animal lover could finish this ghastly book, which is very poorly written into the bargain. I know I couldn't.

Here's a biography that reads like a novel - a love story, a detective story and an adventure story, all rolled into one. Much of it plays out in one of the most peculiar and remarkable settings ever - 1930s China - and the characters, beginning with the irrepressable Harkness, are a combustible mixture of people who would never have come near one another were it not for . . . pandas. Originally motivated by romance and adventure, Harkness sets out to capture a panda and becomes world-famous; but in the ensuing years, the lessons she learns about people, animals and herself will turn her into a very different person. A great book!