Wild People

A funny and often poignant study of the Iban people of Sarawak. Expecting them to be noble, bare-breasted savages in dugout canoes, the author found a people who, whilst they did decorate their homes with heads not their own, also possessed outboard motors, chainsaws and "I love New York" T-shirts.

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To fulfil the criteria of Andro Linklater's original assignment, the Iban people of Sarawak were supposed to be noble, bare-breasted savages in dugout canoes, practising age-old rituals - "primitive" enough to be included in a project called "Wild People of the Earth", initiated by Time-Life Books. In the event, the Iban simply wouldn't do. They did decorate their homes with heads not their own, but they also possessed outboard motors, chainsaws and "I love New York" T-shirts. The project was abandoned, but Linklater was captivated and wrote this funny and often poignant book.