Robin Hanbury-Tenison
The Bushman’s Song
The Broken String: The Last Words of an Extinct People
By Neil Bennun
Viking 432pp £16.99 order from our bookshop
Countless people have flourished throughout the history of mankind, only to vanish without trace. In Brazil alone, at least fifty tribes of Indians disappeared during the last century as their lands were invaded. The forests or, more often, wastelands which remain contain only faint traces of peoples who once knew that they were unique. Over the millennia they nurtured extraordinary and dynamic cultures. These thrived until confronted by the overwhelming power, brutality and diseases of the developed world.
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