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The Harmless People Paperback – October 23, 1989

by
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (Author)
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Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 27 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; 2nd Revised ed. edition (October 23, 1989)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 067972446X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679724469
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA wonderful reading experience
By A Customer on July 27, 1997
Format: Paperback
This is a simple account, yet honest and very entertaining. It describes a people almost totally uninfluenced by the advancements and vices of the outside world. The stories held my attention without fail. While classified as anthropology, it is not written in a scientific manner and is approachable for anyone looking to experience a wholly foreign culture.

The last chapter, which describes the people after thirty years, is discouraging, but gives some insight into our own ways of life. This is probably the best non-fiction "story" I have ever read.
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5.0 out of 5 starsClassic, well-written, and enjoyable study of the Bushmen
By magellan HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER on August 25, 2003
Format: Paperback
This is a detailed, fascinating, and even beautiful account of the author's field study of the Kung! Bushman. Along with the Australian aborigines, the Bushman of the Kalahari desert, who inhabit an arid tableland in southwest Africa, are considered one of the two most primitive cultures in existence. The Bushmen aren't native to the Kalahari but were forced there as a result of conflicts with the white man and other tribes after the 17th century. Thomas gives a detailed account of their way of life and how they are able to survive in one of the most desolate places on earth. The Bushmen are very short of stature, averaging only 4 feet, 10 inches tall, and their skin has a yellowish tinge that is different from the blacker skin of their surrounding neighbors. The Kalahari has no surface water, and the rare rainfall immediately dries up. One of the few ways they get moisture as well as food is the tsama melon, which grows underground. The tsama melons are so important that the rights to a particular locale are inherited, which is unusual among the Bushmen. To survive in this harsh environment, the Bushmen have become expert botanists and can identify over 300 different kinds of plants, and they hunt antelope with poisoned arrows. Marriage among the Bushmen can occur at a very early age, but for women it is considered inappropriate to become fully sexually active and to marry before the age of 12. After having been almost completely wiped out between the 17th and the 19th century through conflicts with other tribes and the white man, there are now about 50,000 Bushmen inhabiting the Kalahari.
Years later, when I saw the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, I recalled my first encountering the Bushmen in Thomas's wonderful little book.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA firsthand, close-up view of a little-known and little-understood people
By Karen Chung on July 13, 2007
Format: Paperback
The Bushmen are well known - and intriguing - to phoneticians, because Bushman languages, along with Bushman-influenced languages such as Zulu and Xhosa, are the only ones in the world with linguistic clicks. As a teacher of phonetics, that was my own original motivation for reading this book. I also thought it would be useful background to have before visiting South Africa. Finally, I met a very friendly and kind Nama-speaking Bushman in Minnesota once, and that further piqued my curiosity about his home culture.

This book is truly a rich, firsthand resource on what traditional Bushman life was like in the 1950s. The Bushmen may be praised for their cleverness at being able to live in a land with very little visible water; but in this book you will learn that in fact many Bushmen died of thirst and hunger, not to mention disease, when times were unusually hard.

One half of the book is dedicated to each of two Bushman groups with whom the author and her family stayed for extended periods, the Gikwe, and the !Kung, of "The Gods Must Be Crazy" fame. It was fascinating to read about how they courted, married, divorced, gave birth, chose names, cared for children and the aged, went through puberty, gathered and hunted, interacted with animals, told stories, died, and dealt with the spirits of the dead. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of Bushman music, e.g. singing accompanied by playing on the stringed guashi, the bow, and the te k'na (mbira/kalimba/thumb piano), and the ritual dancing that sometimes went with it. Thomas states that music is by far the strongest of the Bushman arts.

Mentions of some of the effects of intruding white people on the Bushmen's lives may give you pause. The Bushmen treated their white visitors with great openness and kindness.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn early ethnographic account with wonderful information
By yo-tambien on October 12, 2000
Format: Paperback
A seminal work of Thomas' experience living with the Kalahari !Kung hunter-gatherers in the 1950s. This is an intimate, personal account of her experience plus a colorful look at quite possibly how all of our ancestors once lived, including how this culture has, since the '50s, basically been destroyed by civilization. A valuable lesson in 303 pages.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Good Life
By Richard Reese (author of Understanding Sustainability) on March 18, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Folks who spend their lives staring at computer screens in vast corporate cubicle farms have a powerful tendency to drift off into vivid daydreams of gathering nuts, roots, and melons in wild country, with their hunter-gatherer ancestors, in a world without roads, cities, or alphabets. For them, there is treasure to be found in Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' book, The Harmless People. It's a beautiful book.

Elizabeth was 19 when she first met the Bushmen of southern Africa. Her parents led three expeditions between 1950 and 1956 to study and film these people, who were among the last surviving hunter-gatherer societies in the world. The family spent a lot of time living in Bushmen camps, learned their language, and really got to know them. Elizabeth's book is a respectful and affectionate diary of her experiences with these people, and it is easy and enjoyable to read.

The first expedition searched for several months before finding Bushmen, because Bushmen disappeared whenever they saw outsiders, who were a dependable source of trouble. Black and white outsiders frequently kidnapped them, and forced them to spend the rest of their days as farm laborers. They never returned home. Police would arrest them if they killed a giraffe in the desert, because giraffes were royal animals protected by the law. Arrested hunters were hauled away, and never seen again. The Thomas expedition eventually gained their trust because they developed a reputation for being very generous with their gifts, and for being unusually decent white folks.

Long ago, Bushmen lived across much of southern Africa. But black and white farmers and herders aggressively seized the best lands, forcing the Bushmen into the Kalahari Desert, an exceedingly difficult place to live.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

The copy was far older and worn than I expected

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsand even beautiful account of the author's field study of the Kung

This is a detailed, fascinating, and even beautiful account of the author's field study of the Kung! Bushman. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Alisha Gordon
5.0 out of 5 starsI really enjoy her writing

Superb!! I really enjoy her writing, gives a very good glimpse of the state of mind our ancestors must have been in back, way back in ancient times. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Jesse Apodaca
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

well written and easy to read

Published 8 months ago by Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Having been to a Bushman village in Namibia this book was enjoyable.

Published 17 months ago by David DeVane
4.0 out of 5 starsAssigned reading. Quite enjoyable.

Wife's book:
I like learning about this culture. They are under our noses and I never knew they existed. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Axel
4.0 out of 5 starsI got a lot of good information out of it

Had to read it for class. I got a lot of good information out of it, and a crash course on what is going on with native South Africans today. Read more

Published 18 months ago by AmyleeD
4.0 out of 5 starsA great book on social anthropology.

For those who are still interested in the extinct way of life of one of the most fascinating of human races, this book is a great read. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Byravan Viswanathan
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful read - wonderful story

Wonderful read - wonderful story!! I have listened to it twice and plan on listening again. A world no longer there but I am so lucky that they saw Africa as they did when they did... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Beth Garbutt
5.0 out of 5 starsVery fine .

Amazing excellent natural history.

Published 23 months ago by Joyce Myrus

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