The Other Side of Eden
Paperback, 384 pages
Published April 28th 2002 by North Point Press (first published January 1st 2000)
Original Title: The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World
ISBN: 0865476381
ISBN13: 9780865476387
Edition Language: English
Literary Awards:
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize Nominee (2001)
Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Nominee (2000)
The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World
FLYLEAF: The Other Side of Eden begins in the High Arctic of the 1970s. This was where Hugh Brody first lived with hunting peoples, and where he encountered a way of being that would transform how he saw the world. In this marvelous book, Brody makes his Inuktitut lessons the starting point for a journey into the nature of hunter gatherer society. His travels take him through seductive landscapes of ice and snow with companions who know the land as a part of themselves. But Brody travels also through time and space as he explores the divide between hunters and farmers that lies at the core of human history.
Part memoir, part adventure story, part intellectual voyage, The Other Side of Eden combines Brody’s own experience and that of the hunter-gatherers he comes to know with the ideas of linguists, anthropologists and historians. Much of the book concerns loss – of lands, languages, spirituality, forms of knowledge. Farmers have used their numbers, technologies and armies to overwhelm those they encounter. Why has one kind of society required not only the subordination but the very disappearance of another? Brody finds answers in many places, among them the book of Genesis, the creation myth at the centre of the agricultural world.
Brody poses questions about the mind itself to arrive at a profoundly hopeful conclusion. Something exists, he suggests, that is neither heaven nor hell, neither modern nor primitive: a place within each of us where we can be more fully ourselves. Finally, The Other Side of Eden is a passionate celebration of human possibility.
BACK COVER:
The Other Side of Eden begins in the High Arctic of the 1970s. This was where Hugh Brody first lived with hunting peoples, and where he encountered a way of being that would transform how he saw the world. In this marvelous book – part memoir, part adventure story, part intellectual voyage – Brody’s travels take him though seductive landscapes of ice and snow. But he travels also through time and space, exploring the divide between hunters and farmers that lies of the core of human history.
“Hugh Brody has the natural ability to be as one with us, easting moose ribs around a campfire and also to grasp how our language, culture, history and philosophy interplay in a grander scheme. His curiosity and humanity have led him to witness the profound tragedies and triumphs of aboriginal cultures in transition. Other have trod similar trails, but none with the capacity to derive and weave such a compelling message of hope.” —NEIL STERRITT, Gitxsan leader and international advisor
“As a reader, I was intrigued by this book. As an Inuk, who has been active in many of my people’s struggles and victories, I was captivated. Hugh Brody’s profound understanding of the importance of language in the shaping, sharing and survival of indigenous cultures is both moving and motivating.” —MARY SIMON, Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs
Reviews
“The best books change the way you think. This is one of those.” —National Geographic Adventure
“An informed, passionate and enlightening volume . . . that draws on an exceedingly rich experience and adds new dimensions to our understanding . . .” —The New York Times
“Brody's book is more than merely a personal story. It is also a radical and ambitious argument about human history.” —Newsday
“[Brody] presents a culture of exceptional maturity, rich in many of the things we believe we have lost . . .” —The New Yorker
Brody's writing is thoughtful, eloquent, and carefully crafted to fill your mind with images that evoke a multitude of different emotions. I highly recommend.
By Black · ★★★★★ · July 24, 2017
this might honestly be the best book i have ever read, and i've read a lot. if you can read this book and come away from it thinking there is nothing fundamentally wrong with civilization, then i probably want nothing much to do with you.
By James · ★★★★★ · June 27, 2017
I like this book a lot. Brody is curious about how people shape language and how language shapes them. On these topics he has smart things to say. He learns about people by living with them, and he goes in humbly. As a result, people want to teach him, so he learns about culture from the ground up. ..
By Sherry · ★★★★★ · January 27, 2009
One of the most enlightening books I have ever read. Puts nature and human beings into their proper perspective, that is to say that humans should survive in a manner similar to our ancestors, the hunters and gatherers, if we want to survive as a species and not wreck our planet's resources.
By Bruce · ★★★★★ · June 19, 2014
Required reading for an anthropology class but as enjoyable as if I had picked it out myself. One of the few books that really changes the way you not only look at a culture, but the world as a whole. ...more
By Chris · ★★★★★ · October 25, 2016
