The Tree Where Man Was Born [Mass Market Paperback]

Peter Matthiessen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1983

On the great East African plain it is the human who feels himself the intruder. Here, and perhaps only here, the world is that of the animals. It is they who belong, as humans do not. In the more sensitive traveler this evokes a feeling of being privileged to observe ancient forms, settings and behavior that have survived intact from pre-history.

"Matthiessen has the language to express this feeling of awe...Matthiessen also goes into the relationships between humans past and present in East Africa's great fauna with many a flash of insight into the instincts each has bred in the other...This is the Africa book par excellence." (Saturday Review)

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These dual Matthiessens, which launch the publisher's new "Nature Classics" line, profile the relationship between humans and nature in East Africa (The Tree, LJ 12/1/72) and in the United States (Wildlife, LJ 1/15/60). The latter volume has been expanded and updated for this edition.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Few nature books called 'classic' are as deserving of the appellation as this one, for no one writes about Africa with quite the same insight and enthusiasm as Peter Matthiessen. . . .his grasp of people, events, history, science, and conservation is exceptional. . . .With his sympathy for and knowledge of the tribal peoples and the wildlife of Africa, Matthiessen has an uncanny ability to make us see a raw and untouched landscape where only those people who have adapted their lives to the patterns of nature truly belong. This is a place where we are the intruder, and it takes a rare writer to make us see it that way. --Kirkus (UK)

Stunning. . . .The Africa [Matthiessen] evokes is finally timeless, majestic, throbbing with life, indivisible. --Saturday Review

The lush prose casts its own spell on a landscape observed with awe and inexplicable sadness. . . .[Matthiessen's] narrative powers are considerable. . . . --Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Plume (March 21, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525484523
• ISBN-13: 978-0525484523
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,439,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A loving and detailed account of a difficult journey, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tree Where Man Was Born (Classic, Nature, Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)

Is there anyplace wild enough to lift the weight that Occidental culture has placed on our shoulders? Africa, where the first man walked erect, may be the last place where man can feel awed enough by Nature to try and remember that he, also, is just another among the millions of other species that populate the planet. Paul Bowles, Bruce Chatwin, Doris Lessing, Isaak Dinesen and Peter Mattieshen found that answer, and shared the experience. In Mattieshen's poetic account, the tragic and fabulous beauty of a continent that has been devastated by greed and war is revealed, as the impossibility of traveling Africa and not falling in love with it and being changed by it forever.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good combination of natural atmosphere and history, July 18, 2001

By 

Frances C. Morrier (North Oxford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tree Where Man Was Born (Classic, Nature, Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)

I wasn't certain what to expect when I got this book. I was a bit concerned that since it was written about experiences in the 1960's that it would feel a bit dated. Although the 1960's view of the future of East Africa's peoples and wildlife is not entirely accurate, I am finding the book to be an excellent way to prepare for a trip to Tanzania--for someone wanting a combination of background on the peoples, landscape and wildlife. Matthiessen's usual subdued, to me, dry style seems leavened a bit by his awe. And the account of the elephant researcher who's 'close encounter' approach puts Matthiessen off his feed, was really enjoyable to me--a departure from his usual, very dry approach. I recommend this one to anyone interested in the peoples and wildlife of Eastern Africa.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendent Prose, February 8, 2007

By 

Ethan Schowalter-Hay (La Grande, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tree Where Man Was Born (Classic, Nature, Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one my very favorite of Matthiessen's impressive canon, ranking easily with Far Tortuga and The Snow Leopard. Indeed, I think some of the passages in The Tree Where Man Was Born might surpass the stunning Himalaya descriptions in the latter book. Matthiessen's eye for landscapes is unparalleled, and his lyric evocations of beast and horizon have an otherworldly quality. A prime example, and one to look out for, is his account of finding rhinoceros tracks on the high volcanic slopes of Mt. Lengai. Another highlight are his crystalline observations of ecological moments during a vigil atop an East African kopje.