A finalist for the National Book Award when it was released in 1972, this vivid portrait of East Africa remains as fresh and revelatory now as on the day it was first published. Peter Matthiessen exquisitely combines nature and travel writing to portray the sights, scenes, and people he observed firsthand in several trips over the course of a dozen years. From the daily lives of wild herdsmen and the drama of predator kills to the field biologists investigating wild creatures and the anthropologists seeking humanity’s origins in the rift valley, The Tree Where Man Was Born is a classic of journalistic observation. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by groundbreaking British primatologist Jane Goodall.

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Author's Note -- Maps -- The Tree Where Man Was Born -- The Tree Where Man Was Born -- White Highlands -- Northwest Frontier -- Siringet -- In Maasai Land -- Rites of Passage -- Elephant Kingdoms -- Great Caldron Mountains -- Red God -- At Gidabembe -- Notes -- Glossary -- Selected Bibliography - Index.