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The Old Way: A Story of the First People Elizabeth Marshall Thomas One of our most influential anthropologists reevaluates her long and illustrious career by returning to her roots--and the roots of life as we know it
When Elizabeth Marshall Thomas first arrived in Africa to live among the Kalahari San, or bushmen, it was 1950, she was nineteen years old, and these last surviving hunter-gatherers were living as humans had lived for 15,000 centuries. Thomas wound up writing about their world in a seminal work, The Harmless People (1959). It has never gone out of print.
Back then, this was uncharted territory and little was known about our human origins. Today, our beginnings are better understood. And after a lifetime of interest in the bushmen, Thomas has come to see that their lifestyle reveals great, hidden truths about human evolution.
As she displayed in her bestseller, The Hidden Life of Dogs, Thomas has a rare gift for giving voice to the voices we don't usually listen to, and helps us see the path that we have taken in our human journey. In The Old Way, she shows how the skills and customs of the hunter-gatherer share much in common with the survival tactics of our animal predecessors. And since it is "knowledge, not objects, that endure" over time, Thomas vividly brings us to see how linked we are to our origins in the animal kingdom.
The Old Way is a rare and remarkable achievement, sure to stir up controversy, and worthy of celebration.
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Zulu Zulu Golf: Life and Death with Koevoet Arn Durand The gripping account of Arn Durand s first two years with Koevoet, South Africa s most deadly fighting unit during the Border War. Through Durand s eyes, the reader will experience the madness, mayhem and complexity of the war.
A unit of the South African police, Koevoet was the most deadly fighting force involved in the Border War. This book is the account of Arn Durand s first years with Koevoet, from 1982 to 1983. He describes patrols, ambushes and contacts, situations of certain death, dealings with the enemy and relationships with his Ovambo colleagues. This book does not glorify war or peddle propaganda. It simply relates, in a deadpan style, what it was like to be a killing machine in the heat of battle. |
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Africa's Top Wildlife Countries: Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe Mark W. Nolting Navigating Africa can be daunting, particularly when planning a safari – an experience that varies greatly according to location. This guide demystifies the process, by detailing the safari stats of 18 African countries with maps, color photographs, illustrations of wildlife, 11 useful charts, and an accommodation guide with a detailed rating system. |
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The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa Caitlin O'Connell While observing a family of elephants in the wild, Caitlin O’Connell noticed a peculiar listening behavior—the matriarch lifted her foot and scanned the horizon, causing the other elephants to follow suit, as if they could “hear” the ground. The Elephant’s Secret Sense is O’Connell’s account of her groundbreaking research into seismic listening and communication, chronicling the extraordinary social lives of elephants over the course of fourteen years in the Namibian wilderness.
This compelling odyssey of scientific discovery is also a frank account of fieldwork in a poverty-stricken, war-ravaged country. In her attempts to study an elephant community, O’Connell encounters corrupt government bureaucrats, deadly lions and rhinos, poachers, farmers fighting for arable land, and profoundly ineffective approaches to wildlife conservation. The Elephant’s Secret Sense is ultimately a story of intellectual courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
“I was transported by the author’s superbly sensuous descriptions of her years spent studying the animals. . . . Conjures a high-class nature documentary film in prose.”—Steven Poole, Guardian
“A ride as rough and astonishing as the roads of the African floodplain.”—Joan Keener, Entertainment Weekly
“A successful combination of science and soulfulness, explaining her groundbreaking theory of how elephants use seismic communication. . . . O’Connell’s account is studded with sympathetic insights and well-turned phrases.”—Publishers Weekly
“This fascinating book reads like a fast-paced detective story of a scientific discovery and adventure set in contemporary Africa. . . . By the end, O’Connell takes her rightful place among the leading biographers of the African elephant.”—Iain Douglas-Hamilton, author of Among the Elephants |
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The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism. David Olusoga and Casper W. Erichsen David Olusoga On 12 May 1883, the German flag was raised on the coast of South-West Africa, modern Namibia - the beginnings of Germany's African Empire. As colonial forces moved in , their ruthless punitive raids became an open war of extermination. Thousands of the indigenous people were killed or driven out into the desert to die. By 1905, the survivors were interned in concentration camps, and systematically starved and worked to death. Years later, the people and ideas that drove the ethnic cleansing of German South West Africa would influence the formation of the Nazi party. "The Kaiser's Holocaust" uncovers extraordinary links between the two regimes: their ideologies, personnel, even symbols and uniform. The Herero and Nama genocide was deliberately concealed for almost a century. Today, as the graves of the victims are uncovered, its re-emergence challenges the belief that Nazism was an aberration in European history. "The Kaiser's Holocaust" passionately narrates this harrowing story and explores one of the defining episodes of the twentieth century from a new angle. Moving, powerful and unforgettable, it is a story that needs to be told. |
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Adventuring in Southern Africa: The Great Safaris and Wildlife Parks of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland Allen Bechky Southern Africa - long famous for the oldest and best-managed game parks on the continent - is becoming increasingly popular as an adventure travel destination. In the 1990s the number of visitors to the region nearly doubled, to more than 6.5 million tourists per year, as adventure travelers abandoned traditional safari sites in Kenya and Tanzania for the world-class national parks of Botswana and Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. Favorable political changes have inspired an increase in tourism to South Africa, and the pristine wilderness areas in the smaller nations of Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland have become favorites with budget travelers in search of adventure well off the beaten track.
"Adventuring in Southern Africa "is a comprehensive guide to the geography, culture, natural history, and adventure opportunities in these eight countries, including:
The legendary areas of Victoria Falls, the Okavango Delta, the Zambezi River, Etosha, and Kruger National Park
The classic safari as well as unconventional car, hiking, rafting, and canoe trips
The nuts and bolts of how to plan a trip, including what to pack, how to adjust to local customs, what documents to take, and safari etiquette
A full range of travel styles, from luxury tours to independent budget travel
How to stay healthy while traveling in Africa
With appendices listing safari tour operators and conservation groups, as well as a helpful safari bibliography, Adventuring in Southern Africa is an essential tool for anyone planning a trip to this spectacular and still unspoiled part of the world. |
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Culture and Customs of Namibia (Culture and Customs of Africa) Anene Ejikeme Namibia is a sizeable and significant country in southern Africa that is little known to the outside world. A vast country of startling beauty with a storied history, including one of the world's worst genocides and a war of independence that lasted nearly a quarter century, this "land between two deserts" is a fascinating result of its African, German, and English influences. Culture and Customs of Namibia is one of very few English language works written about Namibia's history, culture, and society. The book reveals details about Namibian daily life, gender relations, modern youth culture, and the influence of traditional cultures that allow readers to appreciate this country's unique character. A section on tourism explains how Namibia—an extremely arid country with an immense number and diversity of wildlife—is on the cutting edge of ecotourism. |
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Genocide in German South-West Africa: The Colonial War of 1904-1908 and Its Aftermath The 1904 war that broke out in present day Namibia after the Herero tribe rose against an oppressive colonial regimeand the German army’s brutal suppression of that uprisingare the focus of this collection of essays. Exploring the annihilation of both the Herero and Nama people, this selection from prominent researchers of German imperialism considers many aspects of the war and shows how racism, concentration camps, and genocide in the German colony foreshadow Hitler’s Third Reich war crimes. |
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At the Front Jannie Geldenhuys General Jannie Geldenhuys is widely regarded as one of the leading military commanders South Africa has ever produced. As Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1985 to 1990 he brought his experience to bear on the South African Border War, and was part of the negotiating team which brought an end to the conflict in 1989. In this completely revised and updated edition, Geldenhuys reflects on a life defined as much by a military career spanning more than four decades as it was by politics and indeed the need for peace on the African sub-continent. This book covers the years before and during the protracted Border War. But rather than a blow-by-blow official history, it consists of Geldenhuys' personal experiences and insights. These include facts unknown to civilians and even to some high-ranking military officials. In particular, Geldenhuys sheds light on the final years of the conflict and the negotiated settlement. Geldenhuys also writes of his early years, as he evolved from a rugby-mad young subaltern officer to a deep-thinking, reflective man with ever-sharpening insights into, war, peace, politics and, most of all, himself. |
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A History of Namibia: From the Beginning to 1990 (Columbia/Hurst) Marion Wallace Namibia gained its independence in 1990 after decades of struggle against South African rule. Before its battles with South Africa, the country spent years within the grip of German colonialism. In this book, the first general history of Namibia to be published in more than two decades, a celebrated historian and a renowned archaeologist provide fresh perspective on these events, as well as a detailed account of the country's precolonial period. The volume begins with an absorbing history of Namibia from earliest times to the arrival of German colonialism in the nineteenth century. Drawing on sources in English and German, the authors explore trajectories of migration, production, and power in the precolonial period, changes triggered by European expansion, and the dynamics of formal colonialism. They relate the full experience of German rule, including the genocide of 1904-1908, the wars of central and southern Namibia, and the fate of defeated Africans who were imprisoned in concentration camps. Final chapters discuss African nationalism, apartheid, and war between 1946 and 1990, and the development of Namibia in the two decades since independence. An invaluable introduction and resource, this volume reasserts Namibia's crucial role in the history of southern Africa and, with its rich insight and extensive bibliography, furthers responsible research on the country and the continent. (7/13/2011) |