Kenneth Anderson (writer)

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Kenneth Anderson (1910-1974) was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote many books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.

He is considered the Jim Corbett of the south due to his reputation in the first half of the 20th century as a killer of maneaters, and the stories he mentions in his book are from many places across South India, many far from his home town of Bangalore.

Kenneth Anderson hailed from a Scottish family settled in India for six generations. His love for the denizens of Indian jungle led him to big game hunting and eventually to writing real-life adventure stories. His book are hailed as classics of jungle lore. His style of writing is highly descriptive and engaging. His books highlight his adventures with a wide variety of animals ranging from Tigers, Bears, Panthers, Elephants, Snakes, Hyenas and Wild Dogs.

Besides talking about his adventures, Anderson's books also give a valuable insight into the Indian jungles of his time that consisted of lush green woods teeming with wildlife. His books delve into the habits of the jungle tribes, their survival tactics and their day-to-day lives. Anderson also takes great pains to focus in many of his books on not very popular creatures like hyenas and snakes and tries his best to show that these creatures are not as cunning and/or scary as they are projected to be. His books are a combination of entertainment as well as valuable jungle lore. Besides focussing on Indian wildlife, he also explores the subject of occult and writes about his live experiences with unusual phenomena (for which he has no explanation).

Anderson's books are fairly popular, and recently two omnibuses of his work have been published. The following is a list of the books written by him:

Nine Maneaters And One Rogue (1954)
The Black Panther of Sivanipalli and Other Adventures of the Indian Jungle (1959)
Jungles Long Ago
Man Eaters and Jungle Killers
Tiger Roars
Tales from the Indian Jungle
This is the Jungle
The Call of the Man Eater

Anderson's love for India and all it stands for is very evident in all his books. He was a firm believer in the power of alternative medicine and always carried a box containing various kinds of natural herbs from the jungle with him. Anderson died of cancer at the age of 64.

[edit] External Links

Kenneth Anderson's books have inspired a number of fans and other like minded enthusiasts to form a number of forums on the web. These online communities primarily help bring together all the readers who've enjoyed reading his books and share their opinions with others. Some of the enthusiasts have even re-lived the trails by visiting the locales along with pictures of actual references described in Anderson's books. The most popular communities are listed below.

KennethAnderson@yahoogroups.com -- yahoo group forum for all Kenneth Anderson fans

http://www.geocities.com/praveenrajuladevi/KennethAnderson.html -- Website featuring revisits and pictures of localities described in Kenneth Anderson's books.

http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=1857440 - Orkut group for Anderson's fans.