This complete guide to great white shark specimens preserved in the museums and aquariums of the United States catalogs 160 great white shark items in 26 institutions. The preserved material includes whole specimens as well as parts of specimens (jaws, teeth, vertebrae, etc.) Each entry details the methods of preserving or preparing the specimen (freezing, drying, taxidermying or skin-mounting, embalming, fixating followed by permanent storage in aqueous solutions of ethyl or isopropyl alcohols), and creating a model of the shark cast from a mold of the original specimen.
The book also includes a general introduction describing the biology, ethology and ecology of the great white shark and more detailed accounts of the various preservation methods.
One of the major shark experts in Europe, Alessandro de Maddalena is the curator of the Italian Great White Shark Data Bank, the President of the Italian Ichthyological Society, and a founding member of the Mediterranean Shark Research Group. Considered one of the world's best nature illustrators, De Maddalena has produced over seven hundred illustrations of sharks and cetaceans.