The Last of the Masai


Book Description




The Last Maasai Warriors


Book Description

How two young Maasai tribesmen became warriors, scholars, and leaders in their community and to the world. They are living testament to a vanishing way of life on the African savannah. Wilson and Jackson are two brave warriors of the Maasai, an intensely proud culture built on countless generations steeped in the mystique of tradition, legend and prophecy. They represent the final generation to literally fight for their way of life, coming of age by proving their bravery in the slaying of a lion. They are the last of the great warriors. Yet, as the first generation to fully embrace the modern ways and teachings of Western civilization, the two warriors have adapted — at times seamlessly, at times with unimaginable difficulty -- in order to help their people. They strive to preserve a disappearing culture, protecting the sanctity of their elders while paving the way for future generations. At this watershed moment in their history, the warriors carry the weight of their forbearers while embracing contemporary culture and technology. While their struggle to achieve this balance unfolds exquisitely in this story, their discoveries resonate well beyond the Maasai Mara.




Animals of the Masai Mara


Book Description

One of the greatest attractions of a trip to Kenya is the chance to see animals such as lions, cheetah, leopards, zebra, and giraffe up close and in their natural habitats. Animals of the Masai Mara is a lavish photographic guide that explores the charismatic wildlife most likely to be encountered by a safari visitor to the Masai Mara National Reserve in southwest Kenya. More than 140 stunning photographs showcase 65 mammals and 17 reptile species, including 6 snakes. Designed to be informative and locally accurate, rather than purely identification-based, this easy-to-use book pays particular attention to wildlife behavior and is written from the firsthand experiences of the authors and the knowledge of local safari guides. Numerous "Top Tips" throughout show readers how and where to locate specific species. The only field guide to focus solely on the wildlife of the Masai Mara National Reserve, Animals of the Masai Mara will be indispensable to visitors to this famous park and all nature enthusiasts with an interest in this area of the world. The only photographic guide specific to the animals of the Masai Mara National Reserve More than 140 remarkable photographs covering 65 mammals and 17 reptile species, including 6 snakes Accessible text explores animal behavior and other interesting facts A brief and informative introduction to the habitats of the Masai Mara




Among the Maasai


Book Description

In 1999, Juliet Cutler leaves the United States to teach at the first school for Maasai girls in East Africa. Captivated by the stories of young Maasai women determined to get an education in the midst of a culture caught between the past and the future, she seeks to empower and support her students as they struggle to define their own fates. Cutler soon learns that behind their shy smiles and timid facades, her Maasai students are much stronger than they appear. For them, adolescence requires navigating a risky world of forced marriages, rape, and genital cutting, all in the midst of a culture grappling with globalization. In the face of these challenges, these young women believe education offers hope, and so, against all odds, they set off alone―traveling hundreds of miles and even forsaking their families―simply to go to school. Twenty years of involvement with this school and its students reveal to Cutler the important impacts of education across time, as well as the challenges inherent in tackling issues of human rights and extreme poverty across vastly different cultures. Working alongside local educators, Cutler emerges transformed by the community she finds in Tanzania and by witnessing the life-changing impact of education on her students. Proceeds from the sale of this book support education for at-risk Maasai girls.




Masai Dreaming


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* WINNER OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN M-NET LITERARY AWARD * A tale of deception, misunderstanding, and betrayal set between modern-day Africa and Nazi-occupied France. Haunted by his dreams of the Masai, Tim Curtiz journeys to East Africa to research and write a screenplay about the enigmatic Claudia Cohn-Casson, a French anthropologist who studied the Masai in the late 1930s and was then deported to Auschwitz upon her return to Paris. 'It is like a little death to put this book down' Times Literary Supplement




The White Masai


Book Description

The runaway international bestseller is now an American must-read for lovers of adventure, travel writing, and romance. Corinne Hofmann tells how she falls in love with an African warrior while on holiday in Kenya. After overcoming severe obstacles, she moves into a tiny hut with him and his mother, and spends four years in his Kenyan village. Slowly but surely, the dream starts to crumble, and she hatches a plan to return home with her daughter, a baby born of the seemingly indestructible love between a white European woman and a Masai. Compulsively readable, The White Masai is at once a hopelessly romantic love story, a gripping adventure yarn, and a fine piece of meticulously observed social anthropology.




The White Masai


Book Description

This page-turning tale puts an African spin on "Not Without My Daughter" when a woman abandons her business, family, and own country to follow a Masai warrior. 8-page color photo insert.




Once Intrepid Warriors


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Drawing on archival sources as well as her extensive fieldwork in Tanzania, Dorothy L. Hodgson explores the ways identity, development, and gender have interacted to shape the Maasai into who and what they are today. By situating the Maasai in the political, economic, and social context of Tanzania and of world events, Hodgson shows how outside forces, and views of development in particular, have influenced Maasai lifeways, especially gender relations.




14 Cows for America


Book Description

This New York Times bestseller recounts the true story of the touching gift bestowed on the US by the Maasai people in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In June of 2002, a mere nine months since the September 11 attacks, a very unusual ceremony begins in a far-flung village in western Kenya. An American diplomat is surrounded by hundreds of Maasai people. A gift is about to be bestowed upon the American men, women, and children, and he is there to accept it. The gift is as unexpected as it is extraordinary. Hearts are raw as these legendary Maasai warriors offer their gift to a grieving people half a world away. Word of the gift will travel newswires around the globe, and for the heartsick American nation, the gift of fourteen cows emerges from the choking dust and darkness as a soft light of hope―and friendship. With stunning paintings from Thomas Gonzalez, master storyteller Carmen Agra Deedy (in collaboration with Naiyomah) hits all the right notes in this elegant story of generosity that crosses boundaries, nations, and cultures.




Reunion in Barsaloi


Book Description

Fourteen years after fleeing Kenya with her baby daughter, Corinne returned in the summer of 2004 to meet Lketinga and his family again in their village, Barsaloi. Nervous as she was, and uncertain as to how he would react on seeing her again, she found to her relief that she was welcomed unreservedly by all those who remembered her - by Lketinga, who still thought of her as his 'wife number one', by his brother, James, now a schoolteacher and especially by Lketinga's mother, who had looked after Corinne with such care all those years before. Corinne Hofmann revisits an area of a country which she cares about passionately, describing in her immensely readable style the changes she saw after her time away, and once again bringing to life the atmosphere and characters in the Masai village.