Review: The tree where man was born
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsThat bodeful man of silence and the past is everywhere in Africa"" and Matthiessen tracks him from Equatoria in the South Sudan through the national parks of Kenya and Uganda. The lush prose casts its own spell on a landscape observed with awe and inexplicable sadness as Matthiessen, with the gingerly footfall of an intruder, follows the grazing zebras, the wild dog packs and the great elephant herds whose destructiveness pose a major ecological and political problem to East African governments. The withered, hungry lion and the Kikuyu tribesman who remembers the day ""they carried Dead Bwana Livingston to the sea"" mark the passage of time since the Europeans began encroaching on the secretive rhythms of Africa, not lurching fitfully into the age of technology and urbanism. But Matthiessen avoids the cities to linger in the bush searching for whatever clues it might offer on the primordial origins of life, marveling at the obdurate resistance of the Shilluk and the Maasai to the newfangled ways. Unlike Norman Myers (The Long African Day, p. 915), Matthiessen is only incidentally an ethnologist but his narrative powers (helped along by Porter's spectacular color photos) are considerable and this may do as well as the more highly charged Blue Meridian (1971).
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Mark - GoodreadsAn excellent read on the writer's journeys through East Africa in the 1960's. The writer gives a unique description of the nature, wildlife and tribal cultures of the region. The descriptions of the ... Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Lisa Houlihan - GoodreadsI saw this title in my goodreads feed because a goodsreads-only acquaintance added it her to-read list without commentary. I immediately requested it from the library. Most of the books I read before ... Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Adam Kranz - GoodreadsThe Tree Where Man Was Born is a series of belle lettres essays on various aspects of natural history and anthropology in northern Tanzania (with a bit of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya thrown in). It is ... Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Lisa - GoodreadsI saw this title in my goodreads feed because a goodsreads-only acquaintance added it her to-read list without commentary. I immediately requested it from the library. Most of the books I read before ... Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - GoodreadsLovely prose, absolutely gorgeous words. Why did I have to stumble over this? Why did no one ever say to me, "Hey, you read all that nature stuff, there's this guy you positively have to read!" I ...
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Bill Moore - GoodreadsMatthiessen's writing, as always, is clear and sharp as a knife. His use of language is accurate and passionate, and he uses it here to bring us Africa as it was, as it still was in the early sixties ... Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Bonnie - GoodreadsI listened to this book and it was like listening to a beautiful painting of Africa Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Donna - GoodreadsI had a tough time getting into this book, but I'm very glad i stuck it out. Matthiessen's adventures are interesting and it's always fun to hear about old friends such as Richard Leaky and George ... Read full review
Review: The Tree Where Man Was Born (The African Trilogy #1)
User Review - Rebecca - GoodreadsSheer poetry. Read full review
