Nisa.

Nisa is an interesting collection of writings. The bulk of the book is made up of stories told to the anthropologist Marjorie from the !Kung lady Nisa. The rest of the book consists of Marjorie's ethnographic observations of the !Kung's people life and beliefs. The book is paced very well, and oftentimes Marjorie's observations prove to be just as interesting as Nisa's life is. The information is presented in a non-biased way and the points in Nisa's life that are exceptional are dutifully show more explained as such.

I came away from this book having enjoyed it (in spite of how long it took me to finish it.) I feel that the !Kung people did prove to be a very interesting case study - their way of life has been the way the bulk of human's lived for most of our earthly existence. I left the book a bit sad to see the way of life disappearing, especially when it boasts a decent amount of advantages over modern civilization.

So, all in all I would recommend this book to people interested in the anthropological field or the sociological field. show less

Marjorie Shostak was an anthropologist studying the women of the !Kung hunter-gatherers on the edge of the Kalahari in the 1960's and 1970's.

This book is the result of her interviews with one of those women, Nisa It is Nisa's life story as told to Marjorie in conversations that took place over a period of many years, left off, to be taken up again during Marjorie's next visit.

What I liked best about this book is that the translation seemed to me to capture Nisa's voice and the rhythms of show more African oral storytelling tradition.

It was also an interesting study, and sad to see how the way of life of the !Kung, and all of the San people have changed so dramatically. show less

Shostak's fascinating survey of the life and culture of a !Kung bush woman is unputdownable.
Don't be fooled by it's anthropological exterior this book reads almost like a novel with alternating chapters describing Nisa's life in her own words and the other chapters describing Nisa's life in terms of how it fits into the wider picture of life for the !Kung people.
This book is amazing.

Nisa is an interesting ethnography since it is only about one womans life. The writing is very good and I imagine non-anthropologists would really enjoy it as well. If you want to know everything about the !Kung tribe this book isn't really going to help you. If you want to know what it is like to be a woman in the tribe this is a great account.