Book excerpt: In 1996, the Italian Great White Shark Data Bank began collecting and recording encounters in the Mediterranean between great white sharks and boats, bathers, divers, fishermen and others, from the Middle Ages to the present. This meticulously researched work presents the study's findings for the first time, releasing a trove of information on the great white's size, distribution, habitat, behavior, reproduction, diet, fisheries and attacks on humans. With 596 records of great white sharks from the entire Mediterranean Sea, this volume represents the most complete and comprehensive study on the species in that region and constitutes a rich resource for historians, scientists, fishermen, and divers.