Michael Nichols: Brutal Kinship [Hardcover]

Jane Goodall (Author), Michael Nichols (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2005

Brutal Kinship explores the relationship between humankind and its closest relative, the chimpanzee, presenting these extraordinary animals in the wild, in captivity, and in protective sanctuaries. In photographs and commentary Michael Nichols and Jane Goodall show us that chimpanzees are physically, emotionally, and intellectually closer to us than we imagined and that we have forced them into a more human yet less humane existence.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Reason for Hope, her spiritual autobiography, Jane Goodall writes of how as a girl "the Holocaust dramatically introduced me to the age-old problem of good and evil. This was not an abstract theological problem in 1945; it was a very real question that we had to face as the horror stories mounted."

Years later, she was brought face to face with another dreadful situation: the way chimpanzees are treated by human beings, their closest relatives. Goodall was so shocked by what she learned that she stopped doing field work and now devotes her formidable energy and determination to chimpanzee welfare and conservation.

From the forest world where Goodall had conducted decades of groundbreaking research on chimpanzee behavior, captive chimps enter "a world of steel bars and heavy chains, beatings and painful medical procedures, solitary confinement and taunting, jeering crowds of ignorant people." To educate her fellow humans about these conditions, Goodall knew that a picture would be worth much than a thousand words. She joined forces with nature photographer Mike Nichols, who had worked with George Schaller on Gorilla: Struggle for Survival in the Virungas. Nichols's photos bring the beauty of the chimpanzees' natural environment and their lives in captivity into soul-searing contrast. Together with Goodall's prose, which is forceful without being overblown, they make an unforgettable, motivating document. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Library Journal

After studying chimpanzees in Tanzania for 30 years, ethologist Goodall has developed a passion for the conservation of chimpanzee habitat as well as for the humane treatment of captive primates. Using photos of chimpanzees in the wild and in captivity in conjunction with commentary summarizing the physical, emotional, and intellectual similarities of humans and their closest genetic relative, Goodall and National Geographic photographer Nichols serve as advocates for a species unable to speak for itself. The book is filled with over 100 remarkable color photographs in a format similar to Nichols's The Great Apes: Between Two Worlds and Frans de Waal and Frans Lanting's Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape (LJ 2/1/97). It also contains a list of sanctuaries supported by the Jane Goodall Institute for the care of chimpanzees that are unable to be introduced back into the wild. Recommended for larger collections.ARaymond Hamel, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Ctr. Lib., Madison
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Aperture; 1st edition (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0893818062
• ISBN-13: 978-0893818067
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,612,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brutal indeed, January 30, 2001

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Michael Nichols: Brutal Kinship (Hardcover)

This book's power lies in its pictures, not in the few words Nichols and Goodall provide. While the authors' commentary is accurate and moving, nothing can compare to the shock of realizing that the irregularly shaped blotch above an anesthetized chimp's head is his detached scalp. The reader is confronted with image after image of chimps, both in the wild and in captivity. To the authors' credit, they reveal instances of violence among chimps, from hunting to warfare, suggesting a genetic legacy of aggression among both men and chimps.

Despite the shocking and disturbing material, this book also affirms the beauty of chimps. The final picture of the series is of two orphaned juveniles living in an African sanctuary. They are standing upright, embracing, with expressions reminding me of two schoolyard buddies as they decide to face the bullies together.

This is indeed a difficult book to page through. After I had bought this book, I left it on my desk for several weeks before I had the courage to crack it, but, when I finally did, I was glad I had. The brutality on display here contrasts sharply with the gentle love the authors have for chimps and their cause. Sometimes we need to see the truth before we can accept it, and this book will go a long way to strengthening public support for protecting primates.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome and entertaingly educational contribution, July 4, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Michael Nichols: Brutal Kinship (Hardcover)

Brutal Kinship wonderfully showcases Michael Nichols' artistic and lovely color photos which are perfect accompaniments to wildlife expert Jane Goodall's informed and informative essay backing up the photos as she deftly explains and explores the relationship between humankind and the chimp. The gorgeous, striking, and often memorably stunning photography pack discussions of chimp issues and human treatment. Brutal Kinship is a welcome and entertaingly educational contribution to personal, academic, and community library Animal Photography collections.

4.0 out of 5 stars To see ourselves as others see us, November 19, 2007

By 

Cecil Bothwell "Author of "Whale Falls: A... (Asheville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Michael Nichols: Brutal Kinship (Hardcover)

A sad tale of the many ways we mistreat our nearest relatives, BRUTAL KINSHIP is a photographic excursion aimed at the heart. Nichols and Goodall have been working together for a decade to raise awareness about chimpanzees, to save the species from extinction and to end the butcher-shop, pet business, scientific and entertainment industry abuse that is prevalent world wide. To anyone with even passing familiarity with Goodall's life and work these past 40 years, the pain she must feel visiting laboratories where chimps are imprisoned in life-long isolation, slowly going mad while being infected with human diseases seems nearly unbearable. As she asks, "How should we relate to beings who look into mirrors and see themselves as individuals, who mourn companions and may die of grief, who have a consciousness of `self'? Don't they deserve to be treated with the same sort of consideration we accord to other highly sensitive, conscious beings -- ourselves? For ethical reasons, we no longer perform certain experiments on humans; I suggest that it would only be logical to refrain from doing those experiments on chimpanzees too." Logical, indeed. Michel Nichols, whose words and photos comprise most of this volume, has captured the wild beauty and complex interaction of natural chimp society, as well as the abject state of captive creatures. The juxtaposition of these opposites says it all. Would you treat your worst enemy the way we treat the chimps? And when will it end? A powerfully moving statement from two deeply dedicated defenders of the wild.