THE LAST CANNIBALS

by Jens Bjerre ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 1957

With an imaginative and indefatigable young Danish explorer, the reader explores the virtually unknown territory of Australia's aborigines and the jungles of New Guinea where fighting supplies the reason for being and cannibalism is still extant. Armed with a camera and a sound recorder- guided by mission-trained natives, sometimes suspect with their own tribes, Jens Bierre sought to experience, as closely as possible for a white-skinned European, the life of the primitive tribes- and shares with the reader the sense of discovery, of gradual understanding of the emotional reactions, the manner of living, the rites and ceremonies, the superstitions and cults, the magic rituals and myths, the distortions of thinking about white men's conceptions, the survivals on the border of modernity. The 76 photographs (oddly placed in relation to the text) help orient one, but the value of the book lies in the vivid text. Not great travel writing- but a craftsmanlike blend of shared experience and thoughtful interpretation.

Pub Date: Sept. 4, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION