Millenium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World

by David Maybury-Lewis

This is the book that accompanied the television series Millennium, also by Maybury-Lewis. He argues that tribal peoples have not tried (& failed) to be like us, but have actually chosen to live differently. By examining the roads they took that we did not, we can get a better insight into the choices we ourselves make, the price we pay for them, & the possibility of modifying them. The book includes full-color photographic essays on the Dogon, Xavante, Aborigines, Makuna, Gabra, Wodaabe, Weyewa, Nyinba, Huichol, & Navajo peoples.

Genres: Anthropology, History, Nature, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Cultural

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Jean-Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fondly remember setting the VCR to tape this now out-of-print PBS series on which this "coffee table" book is the companion. Unfortunately, Maybury-Lewis never made another miniseries that was as widely promoted. a fascinating look at how tribal cultures can and could influence our modern society... if we'd let it. With many pictures and chapters structured like episodes of the show, this book is a remarkably dense, yet easy to read, look at a variety of ancient cultures and those modern people who interact with (or are part of) them.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ideas that I took away: Our culture is individualistic, rituals are helpful in social cohesion, competitions can be pursued aesthetically as a means to unify communities, we don't have good initiation rites in the West (my idea: so for us, every time a person gains some new aspect of their older identity (i.e. they mature), they tend to cut off relationships with people, which has a similar effect as the sharp and painful experiences of initiation in traditional societies)... probably more if I thought longer.

This book is kind of a "light read" for me, and an overview, so I'd like to read more books on the topic. I wanted something that would give me ideas on how a sustainable culture would look, and I think that was exactly the point of this book, and it did give me some ideas.

[Ngoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical.