The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World

Hugh Brody first encountered hunting peoples when he lived among the Inuit of the High Arctic, who instructed him not only how to speak but do & be Inuk-titut, "in the manner of an Inuk." Since then he has spent nearly three decades studying, learning from, crusading for, & thinking about hunter-gatherers, who survive at the margins of the vast, fertile lands occupied by farming peoples & their descendants. In material terms, the hunters have been all but vanquished, yet, in this profound & passionate book, Brody utterly dispels the notion that theirs is a lesser way of life. Drawing on his experiences among indigenous peoples, as well as on the work of linguists, historians, & fellow anthropologists, he reveals the outlooks & practices that distinguish the hunter from the farmer. Whereas the farmers are doomed to the geographical & spiritual restlessness embodied in the story of Genesis, Brody argues, the hunters' deep attachment to the place & ways of their ancestors stems from an enviable sense, distinctively expressed in thought, language, & behavior, that they are part of a web of relationships in the natural & spiritual worlds. Brody's aim, however, is not to elevate one mode of being over another; rather, it is to suggest that we might all move beyond the familiar dichotomies & become more fully human.Hugh Brody is the author of 'The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World' with ISBN 9780865476103 and ISBN 0865476101.