The Old Way: A Story of the First People.THE OLD WAY: A story of the First People ELIZABETH MARSHALL THOMAS Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (born 1931) is an American anthropologist and author. Amongst other works and novels, she wrote The Harmless People, Warrior Herdsmen, The Hidden Life of Dogs, The Social Life of Dogs, , , , Reindeer Moon and The Animal Wife. Despite the industrialization industrialization Process of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and of human culture, a small pocket of people called the Kalahari san, or Bushmen, lived well into the 20th century in the same manner as they had for a million-and-a-half years: as hunter-gatherers. In 1950, 9-year-old Marshall Thomas, along with her mother, father, and brother, came to live among these people. At first, the author didn't fully understand the cultural traditions and practices that she witnessed. In this book, she looks back on her coming of age with a modern-day anthropological perspective. She references the journals and notes she kept, detailing life on the savannah Savannah, city, United States Savannah, city (1990 pop. 137,560), seat of Chatham co., SE Ga., a port of entry on the Savannah River near its mouth; inc. 1789. . She chronicles how the presence or absence of water dictated the size of social groups, and how the Bushmen made weapons for killing various game. Marshall Thomas recounts her first encounters with the Kalahari people and the difficulties she had in understanding their language and their notions of territory, hunting and gathering, and farming. Part two of the book reviews the plight of the Kalahari people since the family's visit. The tribe's ancient way of life has given way to modern issues of apartheid apartheid (əpärt`hīt) [Afrik.,=apartness], system of racial segregation peculiar to the Republic of South Africa, the legal basis of which was largely repealed in 1991–92. , Western-style capitalism, and conversion to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to some form of Christianity. The exact understanding of what it means to attain salvation varies somewhat among denominations. . Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006, 343 p., b&w photos, hardcover, $27.00. |
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